$29 Million Tim Burton Film Role Reese Witherspoon Lost to a DC Actress, It Was Also Supposed to Star Ryan Reynolds
- Reese Witherspoon was once rumored to be in the run for a role in a Tim Burton movie.
- Witherspoon recently revealed that she auditioned for a movie that Burton was going to direct.
- The movie turned out great and starred Amy Adams and Christopher Waltz in the lead roles.
Tim Burton is widely known for Gothic horror and dark fantasy films, but a film he made in 2014 differed from these themes to some extent. Unlike his other movies which are mostly fictional, this one was a biographical film. The film was in development for a long time before it came to life on the screen.
The development took long enough that the lead cast was switched twice. The first time the cast was changed, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds were reportedly going to be cast in the movie. However, they were replaced by DC stars Amy Adams and Christopher Waltz. While Witherspoon has never publicly revealed what this movie was, she recently revealed that she had once auditioned for a film Burton was directing.
Reese Witherspoon might have auditioned for this underrated Tim Burton movie
Reese Witherspoon, widely known for her performance as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, ventured into the entertainment industry in the early 1990s. She made her debut with 1991’s A Man in the Moon. She had originally auditioned for a bit part but landed the lead role instead.
Her performance in 1999’s Cruel Intentions gained her greater recognition. That same year, she starred in the black comedy, Election, which earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. She has since appeared in some of the best movies and TV shows.
In 2012, Deadline reported that Witherspoon will be starring alongside Ryan Reynolds in Tim Burton’s Big Eyes. However, that did not come to fruition as Amy Adams and Christopher Walken were cast in the movie instead. During her recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Wild star revealed that she had auditioned for a Burton movie once.
I auditioned for Tim Burton once. I didn’t get it, but I was glad I did it, you know. I think he’s amazing; I think he’s worthy of any kind of, you know, big effort to try and get the job.
Considering Witherspoon has not appeared or is rumored to be cast in any other movie by Burton, it must have been Big Eyes for which she auditioned. The biographical drama chronicles the relationship between Margaret Keane and her second husband, Walter Keane, who took credit for her immensely popular paintings of people with big eyes.
Margaret Keane loved the depiction of her life in Big Eyes
The film was a critical success and made $29 million at the box office. Amy Adams won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy for her performance and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress. Christopher Waltz was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
During his conversation with DirectConversations.com, Tim Burton revealed that Margaret Keane was quite impressed with the film.
Scott [Alexander] and Larry [Karaszewski] showed Margaret the movie while I was still finishing it, and she got quite emotional. It was interesting to hear things like, ‘Oh, my God, that was like Walter.’ Because we weren’t there and the history is sort of sketchy to us, it was gratifying to hear that we sort of captured some emotional things that really touched her.
Burton has never been one to care about accolades. His filmmaking has proved over and over again that he only cares about the craft and it is this care which leads him to make a movie to the best of his ability.
