Geena Davis didn’t get the Fletch role she auditioned for — but she did get to become Larry, and somehow that turned out to be the more memorable choice.
Appearing on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Davis looked back at auditioning for the female lead in the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy and recalled being given a particularly blunt reason for missing out.
“I originally auditioned for the lead female character. I’m pretty sure they said, ‘You’re not attractive enough to play that part.’ ”
Davis, now 70, admitted her audition look may not have helped her case either. She remembered “wearing my hair all curly and weird.”
But instead of sending her packing, the filmmakers apparently decided they still wanted Davis’ comedic spark in the movie.
“‘We think you’re so funny,’” she recalled them telling her. “‘We want you in the movie.’”
There was just one tiny problem: the role they offered was the morgue chief, whose character was originally named Larry.
“So they said, ‘Oh, but there’s this part of the morgue chief, whose name is Larry, but we’ll change it to a female for you,’” Davis recalled. “And I said, ‘But I still want to be Larry.’ ”
Shepard, clearly appreciating the chaos, told Davis, “It made it very memorable that you were Larry.”
Turns out, Larry was only the beginning.
Davis went on to become one of Hollywood’s most recognisable leading women, starring in The Fly, Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own.
She also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for 1988’s The Accidental Tourist.
Not attractive enough? Hollywood eventually got the memo.
