Julia Roberts was originally cast in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, but left the project in shambles after she couldn’t find her lead

The 1998 movie Shakespeare in love it was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 7, but the road to making and releasing the film was quite difficult. The film follows a fictionalized version of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespearethat “he is young, out of ideas and short of money, but he meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous works”.

The movie is glamorous and sexy, and the acting is great, con Gwyneth Paltrow AND Joseph Fiennes at the head, accompanied by Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Colin Firth AND Imelda Staunton. But Paltrow’s award-winning performance almost wasn’t, as another Hollywood elite had her role before her.

Producer Edward Zwick recently published a first-person essay for Air Mail (via Variety) on the making of Shakespeare in loveand it was talked about Julia Roberts join and leave the project spectacularly.

According to Zwick, Universal Pictures only agreed to put money aside for the film when Steel Magnolias AND Pretty Woman actress Julia Roberts he expressed interest in starring in the lead role. Zewick wrote:

“The very possibility of putting ‘Pretty Woman’ in a corseted dress excited the studio enough to cash out. Ten weeks later I was back in London, where a photocopied copy of Stoppard’s first draft was waiting for me in my luxurious hotel room.

Zwick later traveled to London with Roberts, where the two were heading so Roberts could perform chemistry readings with several actors lined up to play William Shakespeare. Zwick said Roberts became obsessed with casting Daniel Day-Lewis in the role, though Day-Lewis has already told Zwick he was busy filming In the name of the father with his My left foot director Jim Sheridan.

Zwick recalled Roberts telling him:

“It’s brilliant, it’s beautiful and it’s intense. It’s so funny! Did you see her performance in ‘A Room with a View?’ He did Shakespeare too. Don’t you think that would be perfect?… I can get him to do it.

Zwick said that almost immediately Roberts asked his assistant “to send two dozen roses to Daniel Day-Lewis, along with a note that read, ‘Be my Romeo.'”

Later, at a dinner with Roberts and Stoppard the night before the chemistry reading, Zwick said Roberts “got a text and jumped up, grabbed her purse, fumbled sorry for forgetting the plans to see an old friend, and hurried away.” Roberts therefore did not show up the next morning for chemistry readings. Zwick said he met the actor in his hotel room, where he “kept telling me that Daniel was going to do the film and that I would have to cancel today’s casting.”

Zwick later met Day-Lewis in person, who again told him he was busy In the name of the father. Zwick had an assistant break the news to Roberts’ team. Roberts showed up for chemistry readings the next day and was paired with Ralph Fiennes.

“Even though Ralph did his best to elicit the famous smile, Julia barely recognized him. I’m not suggesting he was deliberately sabotaging, but it was a disaster nonetheless. I tried to catch Ralph’s eye to apologize as he walked away, but he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. After he left, I turned to Julia, waiting for her reaction. ‘It’s not funny’ is all she said.

Zwick continued:

“The rest of that day and every day of the week that followed were just as bad. I no longer have the cast lists, but among the young actors yet to be discovered I remember: Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Colin Firth, Sean Bean, Jeremy Northam. Julia found fault with all of them: one was stiff, another was not romantic, and so on.

Roberts continued to do Notting Hill opposite to Hugh Grant pretty soon after this incident, but I digress. Zwick said it was two weeks of casting until Julia agreed to audition with the actor Paul McGann.

Zwick went on to say:

“On the morning of the test, Julia emerged from the makeup, radiant in period costume. But once she started speaking the words, something was wrong. There was no magic. The problem wasn’t the script. Or Paul McGann. It was Julia. From the moment she began to speak it was clear she hadn’t worked on her accent.

“Sensing Julia’s discomfort, I tried to encourage her, but she must have sensed my discomfort and I made the tragic mistake of underestimating her insecurity. Having only recently been catapulted to dizzying heights at the top of the Hollywood food chain, she must have been terrified of failing. But I could never dissuade her from her ledge. The next morning, when I called her room, I was told that she had left.

Zwick got in touch with Roberts’ manager, who said he informed Roberts: “Julia had returned to the US and was leaving the project.” Zwick said he called Tom Pollock, head of Universal at the time, who informed him the company had already spent $6 million on the project by that point. Based on Roberts’ casting, the studio had already begun building sets, making costumes, and securing locations. Zwick said Pollock assured him he would bring Roberts aboard, but he never did.

Zewick said:

“I never spoke to Julia again. Instead, I watched from a distance as her work grew in depth and stature. I don’t hold a grudge against her. She was a scared 24-year-old. I wasn’t much older, trying to be an adult while watching the demolished Globe Theater. And with it my dreams of greatness.

Shakespeare in love it would eventually be picked up by Harvey Weinstein at Miramax Pictures, but not without the disgraced producer threatening to fire Zwick from the project. Gwyneth Paltrow was cast as her, which would later earn her an Academy Award for Best Actress. She was fantastic in the film and the loss of this role did no harm to Roberts’ career in any way. So that was fine.