Yahoo Lifestyle 19 Then Vs. Now Photos That Show Actors During Their Auditions Vs. What They Looked Like After Booking The Job
1.First, here's Ariana Grande during one of her earliest auditions for Glinda in Wicked, where she performs "Popular" vs. the final scene from the film:
In an interview on the Sentimental Men podcast, Ariana recalled hearing about the Wicked audition for the first time, saying, "I was on the Sweetener tour, and I said to my team, I said, 'If this is happening now. We have to figure it out. We have to pull the plug on this tour. I'm going home. I'm getting into voice lessons. I'm getting into acting lessons. And I'm going to turn this shit out. You need to hear from me now. If this is happening. I'm going home and I'm training, and I'm getting ready. This is all I want.'"
In her recent interview with Variety for Actors on Actors, she revealed to Paul Mescal that it was a "three-and-a-half month" audition process for Wicked.
2.And here's Cynthia Erivo during her audition for Elphaba in Wicked, where she performed "Defying Gravity" vs. the final scene from the film:
In the documentary, Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked, Cynthia explained that she had a three-hour audition where she worked with a few other actors, none of whom were Ariana Grande.
3.Here's Pedro Pascal's self-tape audition for Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones vs. the final scene in Season 4, Episode 3:
In an interview with Late Night with Seth Meyers, Pedro explained that he found out about the role after offering to help a younger actor actually audition for the role of Oberyn.
"He goes to the bathroom, and I text my manager right away," Pedro added, saying he then put himself on tape for the role.
4.Here's Tom Holland during his audition for Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War vs. a final scene from the movie:
In a behind-the-scenes featurette about Tom's audition, producers explained that they looked at roughly 7,500 tapes of young actors who wanted to be the next Spider-Man.
"It was a pretty daunting process," Tom explained. "I went through a phase of just doing self-tapes after self-tapes after self-tapes."
5.Here's Zendaya during her audition for MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming vs. her in the movie:
In an interview on The Tonight Show, Zendaya explained that she had no idea she was auditioning for Spider-Man while auditioning. She said, "I knew I was auditioning for 'Girl in Movie.' And I actually didn't even know what kind of character."
6.Here's Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron during their chemistry test for Gabriella and Troy in High School Musical vs. the final scene in the movie:
Looking back on meeting the cast for the first time during auditions, Vanessa told The Kelly Clarkson Show, "I remember meeting Zac for the first time, meeting Lucas [Grabeel] for the first time. Me and Ashley [Tisdale] had already met cause we did a commercial together a month prior. It’s wild. The time just keeps flying."
7.Here's Rachel McAdams during her first audition for Allie in The Notebook opposite Ryan Gosling vs. the final scene in the movie:
In a behind-the-scenes featurette about The Notebook auditions, the producers revealed they tested 10 different actors alongside Ryan, with "nine of them very well known." Rachel was a "last minute" audition, and the producers didn't know who she was.
Ryan explained that when Rachel came in, she was the only one who didn't want to talk about the scene and characters before the audition; she just did it perfectly.
8.Here's Sam Heughan during his Outlander audition for Jamie vs. the final scene from the second episode of the series:
Speaking about Sam's Outlander audition, casting director Suzanne Smith told Daily Express, "We did audition other actors, and the casting process is not just one audition, you do a couple, so it’s a process of each role that we do on the show. He just embodied the role and also being a wonderful human being, which is so important."
9.And here's Caitríona Balfe during her chemistry read as Claire alongside Sam Heughan for Outlander vs. the scene from Season 1, Episode 9:
Looking back on this chemistry test, Sam recalled in his memoir, "It was intense, physically and emotionally. It left us breathless. She was wrapped in my arms and I think we both know that Jamie and Claire had just come into existence together."
10.Here's Stephanie Hsu during her audition for Joy Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once vs. the final scene from the film:
Speaking about her audition video for the film that went viral, Stephanie told NPR, "That audition video was from 2019. I had never seen it. It was kind of amazing and actually really healing for me to see because the movie is so wild and spectacular that you want to talk about the bigness of it, the costumes, the craziness, and it was quite healing actually to witness; oh wow I guess I did really bring something to this? I know I knew that, but just to see the very bare bones of that performance and the magic that happened in that audition room that day."
11.Here's Miley Cyrus during one of her first auditions for Hannah Montana when she was 12 years old vs. the final scene from the first episode:
Reflecting on her audition process on the 10-year anniversary of Hannah Montana, Miley wrote on Instagram, per Rolling Stone, "There was a very long auditioning process, and many chemistry reads which really is what sold the show to the producers and channel because no matter what went on over the years (which none of you have any clue about but it was like The Real World but [with] more hormonal teenagers), our love for each other was unquestionable. Even though I feel disconnected to who I was at that time I will always feel eternally grateful for the opportunity and platform I was given…"
12.Here's Selena Gomez during one of her earliest Disney Channel auditions vs. her as Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place:
Reflecting on her early Disney audition days, Selena told CNBC, "When I was 12 years old, Disney Channel had a nationwide casting search, and we could never really afford to fly out to California. So I sent in tapes, and [I] guess they liked me."
13.Here's Patrick J. Adams during his audition for Mike Ross in Suits vs. the final scene from the very first episode:
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Patrick recalled his audition, saying, "My audition was really fueled by the fact that I had been fired from a job not long prior to this audition. And so, I don't really remember the specifics, other than I just really went into the audition process for Suits like somebody who had already been through hell. I was just like, Throw it all away. Nothing can hurt me now, which I think helped me get the part. I'd been through it so badly that I was just very eager and excited to just have fun and throw caution to the wind."
14.Here's Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones during their first chemistry read for Connell and Marianne in Normal People vs. the duo in the final scene in Episode 2:
Normal People producer and director Lenny Abrahamson said after Daisy and Paul did a few scenes together in their audition together, he looked around and "three or four of the people in the room were in tears." He added, "And that [was] just on a first read with the two of them. It was all sort of there at that point."
Lenny continued, saying, "And then you know you've got this alive energy that feels correct for the book and the adaptation, and at that point you can go, 'Great! We can really make it now.'"
15.Here's Riley Keough during her first audition for Daisy Jones in Daisy Jones and the Six vs. the final scene in Episode 5:
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Riley recalled her audition, saying, "I read the book. I mean, I listened to the audiobook, and I met with Hello Sunshine, like, very early on. Then, I auditioned. I sent a self-tape in. This was before the singing, just acting. I think I sent about three acting tapes in."
16.Here's Xolo Maridueña during one of his earliest auditions for Miguel in Cobra Kai vs. the final scene in Season 1, Episode 2:
While re-watching his chemistry read with William Zabka, Xolo remembered being "really nervous" for this audition.
He added, "Those early scenes with Billy are some of my favorite to film."
17.Here's Walker Scobell's self-tape audition for Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Olympians vs. the final scene in the first episode:
In an interview with Teen Vogue, Walker recalled filming the self-tape while filming The Adam Project. He filmed his first audition with his siblings playing the other characters in the scene with Percy offscreen.
"My little brother played the teacher, Mrs. Dodds, and to get into character, he put, like, my mom's high heels on, and he talked in a really high-pitched voice. And so you can see me kind of cracking up in my audition. It took, like, maybe, like 30 or 40 takes. I have no idea how I got it," Walker said.
18.Here's Daisy Ridley during her audition for Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens vs. the final scene in the movie:
In a behind-the-scenes featurette looking back on Daisy's audition, writer and director JJ Abrams recalled, "She just blew my mind. She's reaching this depth of struggle, and tears were streaming down her face. I thought, This is unbelievable."
19.And finally, here's Dacre Montgomery during his audition for Billy in Stranger Things vs. the final scene from Season 2, Episode 2:
Dacre's audition tape for Stranger Things notably went viral once it was released.
Recalling his audition to GQ, Dacre said, "I just kind of wanted to make a bit of a splash with the Duffers because I assumed they would be getting so many tapes. I had the audition details for about a day, and I did the whole thing in the first day because I was so overwhelmingly excited about it. I got [the audition details] when I woke up, so that's 7 o'clock. It was one scene, the scene of me and Max in the car, and there was a scene from Stand By Me."
We can't fit everyone into one post, so are there any other audition stories (or videos) of actors before they landed their iconic roles? Tell us in the comments below!
