Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a box office dud at the time of its release in 2010, much to Seth MacFarlane’s delight, but the Edgar Wright-directed film has gotten the respect it deserves in the decade since. We named it the third best comic book movie of the 2010s, and nearly everyone in the cast has gone on to other acclaimed projects: Chris Evans and Brie Larson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Aubrey Plaza in Parks and Recreation, Kieran Culkin in Succession, Alison Pill in every prestige TV drama, etc.
Scott Pilgrim was such an in-demand project that you could build an impressive roster from the now-famous actors who weren’t cast in the movie. For instance, Wright revealed to Vanity Fair that Betty Gilpin, who is the best (only) reason to watch The Hunt, auditioned to play drummer Kim, as did Rooney Mara and Zoe Kazan.
“Sometimes there will be an [actor] I see… Like when I saw Betty Gilpin in GLOW. I was like, ‘Why does this woman look familiar? She’s amazing, oh, my God. Why do I know her? Why does that name sound familiar?’ And it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, she read for Scott Pilgrim.’ That’s what I do feel quite good about,” he said, “because I looked at my notes again and I had written by Betty Gilpin: ‘She’s great.’ At least I feel good about the fact that even if people lost out on the roles… there’s a lot of people who were kind of next.”
Other nexts include: Robert Pattinson as evil ex-boyfriend Lucas Lee, which went to Evans, and Sebastian Stan, who auditioned for Sex Bob-omb lead singer Stephen Stills; the part was given to Mark Webber. Wright is satisfied with the cast he ended up with (rightly so!), but “even when I look at the list of people who did audition, they’re all people I would still kill to work for,” he said. Edgar Wright Batman movie, when?
(Via Vanity Fair)