Robert Downey Jr. Details How He Failed The Holiday Audition

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Celebrate the Holidays With "The Holiday": E! News Rewind

Can you ideate this power successful The Holiday

Seventeen years aft the Christmas movie's release, Robert Downey Jr. and Jimmy Fallon revealed they some auditioned for the Nancy Meyers movie starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black and Jude Law.

"We some got called successful conscionable arsenic spot fillers and we saw each other," the Iron Man prima recalled connected the July 16 occurrence of SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show. "Jack Black is getting his part, and Jude Law is decidedly getting my part. But she needed idiosyncratic to work with the gals, and we're sitting determination going, 'It's astir to hap for us.'"

Downey was truthful assured he'd onshore Law's relation (Graham, the member to Diaz's Amanda) that helium began perfecting—more truthful his statement than ours—his British accent for his audition at New York's Carlyle hotel.

"I was like, 'I gotta person a amended English accent than Jude Law astatine this point,'" he continued. "And Winslet said, ‘That was the worst British accent I person ever heard.' And I was like, ‘I'll cheque retired now, but I'm taking the gummy bears from the mini bar.'"

Meanwhile, Fallon really wanted to nab the relation of composer Miles, who Winslet's Iris falls for successful the film.

"I said, 'If Jack Black says nary to this movie, I'm truthful in,'" helium shared. "'I'll bash it for fractional his price.'"

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Or connection his wage to Downey.

"By far, without a doubt, I'm sitting crossed from Robert Downey Jr., and I go, 'This is the champion histrion I've ever sat crossed and did a country with successful my full life. It was mind-blowing for me," Fallon remembered earlier joking, "and I discontinue the business. I ne'er went back. That was the past clip I auditioned for a role."

Thankfully, Downey wasn't truthful speedy to springiness up, adjacent though helium excessively mislaid the gig. As helium recalled, "Nancy said to me, she said to some of america astatine the aforesaid time, 'It's just—this was great. It's conscionable not a cleanable fit.'" 

For more secrets about The Holiday, support reading.

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1. Director Nancy Meyers wrote her starring ladies Iris and Amanda with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz successful mind. 

"You know, I deliberation a screenwriter would prevarication to you if they said, 'I don't deliberation astir anybody erstwhile I americium writing,'" the famed scribe told ComingSoon.Net. "I can't ideate it, you cognize idiosyncratic has got to accidental it and bash it. It's earthy to commencement fantasizing astir who is going to beryllium successful it."

2. To beryllium fair, casting Winslet was beauteous overmuch a no-brainer. "If you're penning a 30-year-old pistillate successful England you evidently deliberation of Kate Winslet, she's conscionable 1 of the large actresses," Meyers explained to ComingSoon.Net.

3. While Winslet was the inspiration for Iris, the Titanic prima was convinced she was going to beryllium fired from the movie. 

"I've ne'er done a romanticist drama oregon thing that is labelled arsenic that before," Winslet explained to About.com successful 2006. "I was truthful excited to bash thing caller and besides tense you know? The interest of, 'Can I beryllium funny?' It's a unspeakable happening to beryllium acrophobic about. And Jude [Law] and I would talk connected the telephone a batch earlier we started shooting. 'Oh my god, they're going to occurrence us! They're going to recast. What if we don't marque them laugh?' You know, precise tense astir the full thing."

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4. When it came to her California-based movie trailer exertion who ne'er cries, Diaz was an evident choice for Meyers.

"Cameron is simply a large comedienne and I thought astir this earlier I formed her and erstwhile I formed her she continued to thrill maine successful that area," Meyers said. "It's truly hard I deliberation to beryllium that cute and sexy and that comic and that benignant of girl-friendly. I americium truly lone funny with women successful my movies that are girl-friendly, I'm astir apt ne'er going to enactment with those girls that lone the guys similar due to the fact that I conscionable don't get them. So Cameron's truly a girl's miss and boys adore her obviously. She seemed perfectly the close prime for a California girl."

5. Though Jude Law made millions of movie-goers swoon arsenic azygous dada Graham, helium isn't what Meyers' initially had successful caput for the part.

"Jude's quality evolved much during the penning than the others," she admitted. "I benignant of enactment him done immoderate twists and turns that you don't expect. Then, erstwhile I was done, of people you deliberation of Jude Law. He's truthful handsome and he's truly specified a terrific actor, but I wasn't instantly definite that helium was going to acceptable into the genre and bash this benignant of work. So I met with him and we went done the publication unneurotic and helium conscionable got it. You know, helium conscionable hasn't had a accidental to bash it before."

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6. For Miles, Iris' emotion interest, Meyers wrote the relation for Jack Black aft seeing him successful School of Rock, explaining to ComingSoon.net, "I conscionable adored him, I thought helium popped disconnected the screen. He spoke to maine arsenic an assemblage member."

"When I was reasoning of this movie I thought helium was idiosyncratic I would similar to constitute a portion for and I'm alert he's not Clark Gable, he's not gangly acheronian and handsome, but he's adorable, he's lovable," she continued. "It's my mode of saying this is the close benignant of guy, this is what astir guys look similar if they're lucky, he's truthful adorable, and wherefore not? Everybody has a bosom and deserves to autumn successful emotion and helium should get a large girl. So I fixed him up with Kate Winslet."

7. And it was being partnered with Winslet that yet got an unsure Black to motion on, with Meyers adjacent trying to woo him implicit a pasta dinner. 

"Kate was unthinkable arsenic I anticipated," Black told Coming Soon successful 2006. "It was a immense crushed wherefore I wanted to bash the movie. I was specified a large instrumentality of hers, I conscionable emotion her enactment and her acting."

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8. Miles and Iris' boob graze infinitesimal wasn't successful the archetypal publication and was inspired by a existent brushwood betwixt Black and Meyers.

"One time connected the acceptable helium bumped into maine and said, 'Oh, atrocious astir the boob graze,'" Meyers told Coming Soon. "I conscionable laughed truthful hard due to the fact that men bump into women each the clip similar that and enactment similar they didn't bash it, but helium instantly said atrocious astir the boob graze truthful I wrote it into the adjacent country helium did."

9. Winslet and Rufus Sewell, a.k.a. Iris' precise atrocious ex-boyfriend Jasper, really dated IRL successful the aboriginal 1990s for a fewer months. But things weren't awkward connected set.

"It was wholly fine," Winslet told the Irish Examiner. "I hadn't seen him for a precise agelong clip but we'd remained friends. It was truly not a large deal. I was thrilled helium got the part."

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10. Sure, Amanda's Los Angeles location is gorgeous, but Iris' cute state cottage was the existent swoonworthy determination among the crew. After initially uncovering a charming home, the producers decided to physique their ain truthful they could beryllium person to London.

The accumulation squad built Rosehill Cottage successful lone 2 weeks, with Meyers saying successful a DVD feature, "We built that partition and we enactment successful those trees. It truly was conscionable an bare field. It was a existent tourer attraction portion it was there." Unfortunately, the gathering was torn down aft filming and each of the interior scenes were done connected a dependable signifier successful Culver City, Calif. Thus, Meyers instructed her cinematographer Dean Cundey not to instrumentality immoderate wide shots wrong the cottage truthful it would consciousness tiny and cozy.

11. One of the film's astir iconic moments was Law's Mr. Napkinhead performance, with a bulk of the country being improvised, according to Miffy Englefield, who bushed retired implicit 2,500 different actresses to play Graham's daughter, Sophie. Englefield revealed to Vulture that Law came up with the enactment astir smoking being atrocious for you, portion Englefield genuinely told Diaz that the spot was "so funny, you'll autumn disconnected your chair." 

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12. Lindsay Lohan and James Franco marque unexpected cameos arsenic the stars of a movie Amanda's institution is cutting the trailer for. 

"I cognize Lindsay due to the fact that I directed The Parent Trap and I told her she owes maine everything truthful I made her bash it," Meyers told ComingSoon.Net of the fake film's origin. "I called her and said, 'You person to bash this for me,' but she was saccharine astir it, she was wholly there. James Franco I met astatine a fewer meal parties, we person communal friends, truthful I knew him a small spot and I asked him if helium would bash it and it turned retired Lindsay and James knew each different and it was truly fun."

13. During a 2006 quality connected The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Dustin Hoffman revealed his cameo during the Blockbuster country was unplanned. The Oscar victor happened to beryllium driving by that store and stopped to spot what was filming. After talking to Meyers for a bit, she said, "'Wait, I got an idea,'" Hoffman explained. "So she enactment maine successful the movie. And similar a fool, I didn't negotiate."

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14. Amanda's large dash backmost to the cottage to instrumentality to Graham wasn't successful the script.

"Literally, I was truthful acceptable by the extremity of that week," Diaz told Vulture past year. "I ran astir apt 7 miles a time successful those heels. Through mud and hills. It was truthful hilarious. I was literally, like, I'm not adjacent complaining close present due to the fact that my occupation is to run, and I'm good with that. But I'm sweating!"

15. An icon successful the rom-com genre, The Holiday proved to beryllium "really hard" for Meyers to constitute aft Something's Gotta Give due to the fact that of the storylines.

"I truly wanted to constitute a broader canvas, but not a broader taxable by penning aggregate characters and aggregate stories and it was really amusive trying to weave them together," Meyers told Coming Soon. "The lone conscious happening I did was to not person each miss conscionable 1 person. So, connected Kate's broadside of the movie she befriends Eli and that narration and helps her and guides her. I conscionable thought it would beryllium amended for the assemblage not to person 2 girls who instantly conscionable guys and autumn successful emotion and person that benignant of parallel situation, but it was truly amusive to constitute an ensemble movie."

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