Some actors lose roles. Others lose roles in spectacular, totally bonkers Hollywood fashion. Jessica Biel? She lost the lead in one of the best movies of the 2000s, The Notebook (available to stream with an Amazon Prime subscription), while drenched in fake blood, trying to channel young love through the haze of a horror movie shoot. You can’t make this stuff up.
Biel recently dropped this bizarre audition bomb during an appearance on interview, which was shared in a post by Entertainment Weekly on their official Instagram account, explaining how she auditioned for the role of Allie, the lead in the now-iconic 2004 Nicholas Sparks book to screen adaptation, while shooting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (one of the better ranked films of the franchise). As the Chuck and Larry veteran actress remembers it:
Ryan and the director came to my trailer, they came to us on location. And we auditioned in my trailer at work… And I didn’t get it.
Only in Hollywood could an actress be one minute she’s outrunning a chainsaw-wielding maniac, the next she’s in her trailer trying to fake a swoon for Ryan Gosling auditioning for one of the best romantic movies of all time. This story isn’t just funny—it’s pure, uncut Tinseltown chaos. And it adds another layer to the mythos of The Notebook, a movie already packed with off-screen drama (like Gosling and McAdams reportedly not getting along during filming… until they did).
Now we know that Jessica Biel nearly became the face of tear-streaked summer love, but fate—and some fake gore—intervened. No offense to the casting team, but how could you possibly expect sparks to fly when the potential Allie is wearing a blood-soaked wardrobe and emotionally recovering from fake trauma? Biel recalled:
In my mind I just remember having blood on me and being in that white tank top. I took my cowboy hat off, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’d love to fall in love with you. Let’s do this…’ It was very strange. Very Hollywood moment.
Honestly, it’s probably for the best because, in my opinion, I can’t imagine anyone else playing Ellie, especially when it comes to locking lips with Ryan Gosling. It’s easily one of the best Rachel McAdams movies, and I wouldn’t want anyone else in that role.
Jessica Biel might not have gotten the chance to stand in the rain, locking lips with Ryan Gosling, but that hasn’t stopped her from making her mark in the industry. She kicked things off in a big, bad way with a memorable role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the better early aught slasher remakes. Since then, she’s kept things rolling, more recently taking on a gripping lead role in Candy, a true crime story about Candy Montgomery, a Texas housewife accused of murdering her neighbor, Betty Gore, back in 1980.
Premiering in May 2022, the five-part miniseries garnered strong reviews and even earned an Emmy nomination for its main title design. With Jessica Biel leading the charge, Candy, available to stream with a Hulu subscription, proved she didn’t need a tearjerker romance to show off serious range.