And it could have been an Oscar: Julia Roberts failed miserably in these auditions – the role went to Gwyneth Paltrow

The role of Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love by John Madden earned Gwyneth Paltrow an Oscar in 1999. But Julia Roberts could shine in this role! It was she who was originally supposed to be invited to the film, work on which began in 1992, but difficulties already befell the film crew during the casting.

The 24-year-old actress, who at that time had already become a star thanks to Pretty Woman, carefully chose her partner. At first, Roberts said that Daniel Day-Lewis should play with her, but he was already busy with another project. The actress simply sabotaged the audition with Ralph Fiennes, thinking Daniel could still be persuaded. Then Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Colin Firth, Sean Bean, Jeremy Northam came to the casting. But Julia, according to the memoirs of producer Edward Zwick, criticized everyone.

As a result, Roberts endorsed Paul McGann’s candidacy, and the matter moved on to major costume rehearsals. But then it turned out that the American Julia did not work at all to speak with a British accent. The audition for the first scene turned out to be a disaster. Roberts herself realized that she had failed. The next morning, she flew from London to the United States and announced that she was leaving the project. But by then, Universal had already spent $6 million on it!

The film was revived a few years later and Shakespeare in Love was eventually produced by Miramax and now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.

The female lead was played by Gwyneth Paltrow, but the image of the young Shakespeare was played by Joseph Fiennes, brother of Ralph Fiennes, who auditioned with Roberts.

Paltrow received the Oscar for best actress for this role at the ceremony in 1999, but Julia did not wait for her first Oscar until 2001 – she won the award for her leading role in the film Erin Brockovich.

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