Gossip Girl's Casting Director Had to Fight for Blake Lively; a Surprising A-lister The CW Wanted Instead
It looks like Lively could have easily missed out on the role of a lifetime.
Today, it is hard to imagine the Hollywood landscape without Blake Lively, who has managed to become one of the most successful leading ladies of our generation. But back in 2007, she was basically a nobody, a young actress trying to make it in the cruel world of big movies.
And it looks like the actress has only one person to thank for making her the star she is today — The CW's former casting director David Rapaport.
When The CW asked Rapaport to cast the lead roles in the teen drama series Gossip Girls, he immediately knew just the right actress to play Serena van der Woodsen — Lively herself, whom he had seen in the 2006 film Accepted and thought she had the potential to become a real star. But although today's audiences can't think of anyone else but Lively as Serena, the producers at the time weren't exactly thrilled to hire her for the role.
Serena was described as a Manhattan debutante, so Lively, who looked like a California goddess, was considered a bit too much by some producers, and Rapaport was practically forced to fight for his vision, doing several screen tests with Lively until they agreed she was the perfect fit for the character.
But before that happened, however, another actress was thought to be the frontrunner for the role of Serena.
Rappaport revealed that the producers wanted to hire Rumer Willis for the role, as Bruce Willis' daughter was then considered a real star in the making.
However, the casting director was really against hiring an actress with such a pedigree for fear of compromising the show.
'I love Rumer, she's grown into quite an amazing actress and person, but that, to me, was based on protecting the investment of a television show where, creatively, these lesser-known girls really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years,' Rapaport explained.
So it looks like Rapaport's belief in Lively and his vision for the show really helped Gossip Girl become a huge hit and also turned the actress into an A-lister.
Source: Buzzfeed.