Ben Stiller was up for the role of Link in ENCINO MAN, but here’s how Brendan Fraser landed the role

Before Brendan Fraser was cast as caveman Link in the classic 1992 film Encino Mandirectors The Mayfields AND George Zalom they were trying to throw a young man Ben Stiller in the role. The actor went in and auditioned and even went as far as auditioning, but things ended up not working out because Stiller wasn’t what they were looking for.

Mayfield spoke of Stiller’s audition, saying he “demonstrated the character’s potential and was absolutely fantastic. What I remember is, once our start dates were locked down, there was a conflict and he wasn’t available.

Zaloom went on to expand on whether Stiller was great and how they also saw Fraser around the same time, saying, “It was even screen-tested. And he did a really good job. But at some point we had seen Brendan. Brendan just nailed it.

Mayfield added that Stiller “came for free and did this film test and just kicked some ass. He showed us where this character could go. But in the end, they had to tell Stiller that it wasn’t him. Zaloom shared, “It was hard to tell Ben we didn’t want him. In a way I wish it didn’t happen.

Fraser was a lot of fun in the role, though, and they made the right call in casting him! At the time, Fraser was a 22-year-old unknown actor. After graduating from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he moved to Hollywood because he was “tired of waiting tables and parking cars and selling balloons”.

But, when this role came along, he wasn’t interested in playing the caveman! He was eyeing more serious roles and, in 1991, landed the adult school drama School Ties. While he was testing for School Ties, he got the call for Encino Man, and talking about it he said, “At the time, I was testing for School Ties. A phone call that came through my agent’s office was, “Listen, I hear you’re taking the School Ties test.” Tell him we’ll offer him the part of the caveman if he doesn’t.” But I knew what my priorities were and I really wanted to do School Ties.

Mayfield said “they went after Brendan very hard. He came in and auditioned. He owned the character. He was super smart and intuitive. He brought a multidimensional, rich, comedic character and just did it right in the room.

Zaloom added: “He did it with movement. And his looks and everything. He physically adapted and became that character without even having to say anything. Writer Shawn Schepps talks about seeing the audition tape saying, “I was watching the audition tapes. And I saw Brendan’s. I was amazed, and then I stopped the tape, and I was finishing, saying, “You guys have to come see this guy! This is the boy!

This is it Pauly Shore she said about it: “When I saw her audition tape, I was like, ‘Holy shit. This boy has become the caveman! This is real shit! This is not a parody.’ I was very excited by how convincing it was.

It was very difficult for the creative team to get Fraser to join the film and he actually gave up the opportunity several times, but they were relentless and kept going after him. The actor was worried it would look silly and silly and they kept trying to calm his mind.

Mayfield said: “I remember getting phone calls [with Fraser]. He was really arguing, what is the movie about? For me it was about family. And the idea of ​​starting a family is, for me, the theme of the film. I hope this was part of what made him make the choice to join us.

Finally Fraser agreed to sign up and do it and shot the film one after another School ties.

Source: Reverse