The 1995 cult classic everyone wanted Ben Affleck to be cast in: “I was really trying”
Across his lengthy time in the public eye, the life and career of Ben Affleck have had more ups and downs than an escalator factory.
From early successes with Armageddon and Good Will Hunting to career-killing turns in Daredevil and Gigli to his resurgence through Argo and Gone Girl, the one thing you can be sure about with Affleck is that you never know how his movies are going to turn out, but for every famous (or infamous) role he has landed in his career, he has had his fair share of missed opportunities.
He was offered the role of Bobby in John Singleton’s Four Brothers, but turned it down to make way for Mark Wahlberg to step in. He got close to playing the lead part in Cinderella Man, but that went to Russell Crowe instead. He almost lost out on his role in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats because a producer didn’t like his “potty mouth”, but worst of all is his losing out on one iconic rom-com.
When Vanity Fair hosted a celebration in 2015 of 20 years since the release of Clueless, alongside director Amy Heckerling, the publication also spoke to casting director Carrie Frazier. With recent credits on the likes of Little Women and Leaving Las Vegas, Frazier was initially going to work on Clueless, and she wanted Affleck to play the part of Josh Lucas.
“I thought he would be fabulous for it,” she revealed, “I was really trying to get Ben Affleck the part. Then, when I got the call that it was going over to Paramount, they wanted to have me work on it for no money… And I said I wouldn’t do that, they’d have to pay me, and they said, ‘Oh, well, we really can’t do that’. I was heartbroken about that on every level.”
Inspired by the Jane Austen novel Emma, Clueless stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, a popular high school student attempting to use her powers to make love matches, but when she gives her new friend Tai, played by Brittany Murphy, a makeover that renders her more popular, Cher quickly finds her spot at the top of the social food chain under threat. Moreover, Josh, Cher’s ex-stepbrother, eventually becomes a love interest for both her and Tai, and this love triangle becomes the driving force of the action for the final act of the movie.
Affleck wasn’t the only future megastar who missed out on playing Josh, with Adrien Brody, Zach Braff, Jason Bateman, and Ethan Hawke all in the running. Matt Damon, Affleck’s long-standing friend, was initially offered the role, but he turned it down.
The casting for Clueless was eventually handled by Marcia Ross, who would go on to work on other stalwarts of the ‘chick flick’ genre like The Princess Diaries and 10 Things I Hate About You, and she chose Paul Rudd to play the teen heartthrob, a decision that would kickstart his illustrious career.
Ultimately, nobody lost out with this decision. Clueless is regarded as a stone-cold classic, while both Rudd and Affleck went on to have stellar runs at the very top of Hollywood. The only person who was actually shafted was Frazier; imagine asking a casting director to work for free. Disgraceful.
