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Geena Davis has revealed she was told she wasn’t “attractive” enough to play the female lead in the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy, Fletch.
Instead, Davis ended up with a supporting role as Larry, a young woman who becomes embroiled in the investigation led by Chase’s investigative reporter character, Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher.
Davis spoke about the cult classic while appearing on Monday’s episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
Citing Fletch as one of his all-time favorite comedies, Shepard asked Davis what it was like working with the famously acerbic Chase.
“Well, you know, I had such a small part,” Davis responded. “I originally auditioned for the lead female character... And I’m pretty sure they said, ‘Well, you’re not attractive enough to play that part, but we think you’re so funny, we want you in the movie.’”
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson ended up playing the film’s female lead, Gail Stanwyk, the wife of millionaire Alan Stanwyk, who attempts to pay Fletch to kill him after claiming he has terminal cancer and that suicide would invalidate his life insurance policy.
“This was ‘85 where they would tell you, you’re not attractive,” Shepard said incredulously.
Davis continued: “And they said, ‘Oh there’s this part of this morgue chief, whose name is Larry, but we'll change it to a female for you.’ And I said, ‘But I still want to be Larry.’”
She added that Chase was not “grouchy” at all during filming, despite the reputation for being difficult that has followed him in later years.
Davis, 70, has previously opened up about struggling with her appearance and the way she was perceived in Hollywood.
The Thelma & Louise star became a model before beginning her acting career, which started when she was cast by director Sydney Pollack in his 1982 cult classic Tootsie.
Speaking to The Times ahead of the release of her 2022 memoir, Dying of Politeness, Davis said that becoming a model did nothing to convince her of her own beauty.
“I just thought I had figured out some magical way of holding my body so they would think I was pretty,” she said.
“Am I beautiful? I can be beautiful, where I actually accept it, when I’m all dressed up, makeup and hair and everything.
“Then I think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m not so bad’. But it’s a struggle. It’s [always been] a struggle.”
While her struggle “hasn’t been a source of pain,” she said: “It’s got much better over the years. I feel like I’ve got more attractive with every decade. Either I have or I’m feeling better about myself. Which is great.”
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