Timothée Chalamet said, “The first meeting with [director Felix van Groeningen], I basically got on my knees and was like please, please, please let me do this. Like, literally.”
Most of us probably wouldn’t beg a company’s hiring manager for a job (no matter how badly we wanted it). However, in the acting world, some performers shamelessly plead to be part of a project they’re passionate about.
Here are 17 actors who begged and pleaded for roles (and if they were successful):
1. When Margaret Qualley heard there was a sequel for her favorite movie, Happy Gilmore, in the works, she “emailed [her] agents right away,” saying, “Anything it takes. No part is too small. Please! I got to be a part of this. I beg of you, please, whatever it takes.”
She has “a tiny part” in the upcoming Happy Gilmore 2.
In 2021, she began playing Blue on All the Queen’s Men, which Tyler wrote and executive produced.
3. When Sadie Sink auditioned for the role of Max Mayfield in Stranger Things at age 14, the casting directors worried she was too “old.” In 2022, she told Fashion, “I just begged and pleaded with them to give me more material so I could show them something fresh.”
She booked the role the day after her second chance.
4. Timothée Chalamet auditioned to play Nic Sheff in Beautiful Boy “three or four times before [he] read with Steve Carell, and it was a big process to get into.” In 2018, he told TNP, “The first meeting with [director Felix van Groeningen], I basically got on my knees and was like please, please, please let me do this. Like, literally.”
He was very grateful for the part because “Felix gave [him] this role when there were actors coming in that had names or careers or whatever and [he] didn’t have nothing.”
5. Brendan Fraser “didn’t ask” producer Bob Ducsay to put him in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, he “begged.”
He had a cameo.
6. Sensing how important Crazy Rich Asians was going to be, Ken Jeong knew he wanted to be part of it. So, he told director Jon Chu, “Look, whether I’m in the movie or not, this is literally the most important Asian American movie since The Joy Luck Club. I will do whatever you want me to do.”
He booked the role of Goh Wye Mun.
7. In 2024, David Krumholtz told Entertainment Weekly, “I only met [Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman] on the strength of a Twitter post or an Instagram post that I then took down two hours after I posted it. I was embarrassed. My post said, ‘I just want to be in the conversation.’ And it was a picture of the Thing, and Matt saw it somehow. And I had a meeting with him and we discussed it. And I’ve never been so bold in a meeting before, just begging for the role, just straight up selling the shit out of it, the idea of how committed and passionate I was for it.”
However, David’s pitch was unsuccessful, and the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing went to Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
8. Scarlett Johansson has “been trying to get into this [Jurassic Park] franchise in any possible way for over 10 years.” In 2024, she told ComicBook, “I’m like, ‘I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever! I’ll do the craft service!’ I’ll do anything for it.”
In 2024, she was cast as Zora Bennett in the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth.
9. When Chris Evans was in talks to play Ransom Drysdale in Knives Out, he didn’t “let [writer/director Rian Johnson] speak” during their first meeting. In a “Building the Cast” featurette for the film’s DVD release, he said, “I think I was just kind of babbling the entire time about what I wanted to do with the role and what I thought I could bring and please cast me.”
He, of course, booked the role.
10. Helen Mirren “didn’t ask” Vin Diesel to put her in the Fast & Furious franchise, she “begged!” In 2022, she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think I was at some function, and he was there, and I got introduced to him. And I was shameless: ‘Oh God, I’d just love to be in one of your movies! Please let me be in it.'”
She was cast as Magdalene “Queenie” Ellmanson-Shaw in The Fate of the Furious.
11. In 2023, Melissa McCarthy told People that when she heard Rob Marshall was doing a live-action The Little Mermaid, she “threw [her]self in front of [his] car and begged him.” She said, “I didn’t really, but I did beg him to talk to me. That part’s true.”
She “loved [Ursula] so much.”
12. At the 2023 Rebel Moon Part One: A Child Of Fire premiere, Charlie Hunnam told the PA news agency, “I wasn’t reading the script for Kai. I was reading the script for another character, and immediately, when Kai showed up, I was like, ‘Forget that other geezer. I’m playing Kai.’ And so I wasn’t sure if it was already cast or if Zack [Snyder] would be up for it…I begged for it, actually.”
He got to play Kai.
13. Ryan Reynolds was initially interested in playing the titular role in Green Lantern because of the director, but the more he learned about the role, the more he wanted it. In 2011, he told Slash Film, “I was really more interested in Martin Campbell just because I loved Casino Royale, and I had loved some of his other films as well. I had three meetings with him total. At first, they were kind of trying to convince me and then by the end, I was begging them for the role.”
He, of course, played Hal Jordan/Green Lantern.
14. Coming “from the world of beauty pageants and modeling,” Halle Berry had to beg to be taken seriously as an actor — starting with the role of Vivian in Jungle Fever.
She, of course, booked the role.
15. No one thought Nicole Kidman “could do” Suzanne Stone-Maretto in To Die For. However, as she told Variety in 2016, “I called Gus [Van Sant, the director] and I said, ‘Please, give me the chance, I beg you,’ because the writing was so strong.”
She got the part.
16. In 2017, Gwendoline Christie told The Times, “When I saw [creator/writer/director Jane Champion] was doing Top of the Lake, I wrote her a letter — I knew I had to be in it. I can’t tell you what I said, but I kept it for 18 months before posting it.”
The role of Miranda Hilmarson was written for Gwendoline in Top of the Lake: China Girl.
