TV & Movies
Ryan Gosling Was Almost Cast On Gilmore Girls
But the actor's audition “fell flat.”
Ryan Gosling is probably riding high on his recent Oscars performance, and while we know him from hits like The Notebook and La La Land, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the actor. He once missed out on a role in Gilmore Girls.
Speaking at the Gilmore Girls Fan Festival in 2016, casting director Jami Rudofsky recalled meeting Gosling for the first time, saying she’d been impressed with his acting chops while casting another “gritty teen drama.”
“It was one of the most amazing auditions I’ve ever seen,” Rudofsky continued, adding that when Gilmore Girls began casting a football player character, she referred Gosling to series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. Unfortunately, when he showed up to audition, his performance “kind of fell flat” and he didn’t get the part.
On the Gilmore Guys podcast, Rudofsky added additional details while talking with fellow casting director Mara Casey. “I’m like, Mara, Amy, this guy is a huge star. You guys are going to love him,” she said. “They’re like, ‘We don’t get it.’”
While Rudofsky “kept selling him,” she believes even Gosling knew he wasn’t right for the part. “He doesn’t have the Gilmore Girls vibe, so I don’t think he felt it,” she said on the podcast. “He knew it wasn’t the right fit.”
He Was In Good Company
Gosling isn’t the only actor who failed to land a role on the beloved drama. In 2015, Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick told The New York Times that she once tried out for the series, to no avail. “The memory that at one point I couldn’t book a guest spot on Gilmore Girls is always on my mind,” she told the outlet.
Mad Men’s Jon Hamm also auditioned for Gilmore Girls, and while he did land a minor, one-episode role as Peyton Sanders (Lorelai’s potential love interest), he never appeared on the show again.
