MOVIES
Why Rachel McAdams turned down ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
The ‘Mean Girls’ actress said she was looking for “normalcy” following litany of Blockbuster hits.
Rachel McAdams reset her priorities after a long list of Blockbuster hit movies.
The 44-year-old actress has revealed that she reached a point where she preferred living life with a sense of “normalcy” and, as a result, turned down some key roles in Hollywood.
What roles has Rachel McAdams turned down?
McAdams was initially offered the role of Pepper Potts in ‘Iron Man’, a role that subsequently went to ‘Goop’ creator Gwyneth Paltrow. The ‘Red Eye’ actress has previous Marvel Cinematic Universe experience, with her role as Dr. Christine Palmer in the ‘Doctor Strange’ franchise.
Rachel McAdams turned down two roles that later went to Anne Hathaway, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the James Bond film ‘Get Smart’.
In addition to these films, McAdams also turned down roles in ‘Mission: Impossible III’ and another James Bond film, ‘Casino Royale’.
“There’s certainly things like ‘I wish I’d done that,’” the actress mused. “[Then] I step back and go, ‘That was the right person for that.’”
McAdams weighs the meaning of success
In an interview with Bustle magazine, Rachel McAdams said that she had to re-evaluate life after ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘The Notebook’ and make some serious career decisions to maintain a normal life.
In particular, the actress took a conscious two-year hiatus from Hollywood altogether, following an event with Vanity Fair in 2006.
Without being notified beforehand, the cover photoshoot McAdams had agreed to with the publication turned out to be a nude one opposite actresses Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley.
“I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot,” McAdams recalled. “But I also knew it wasn’t quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane.”
“There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that?” the actress continued. “It’s taken years to understand what I intuitively was doing.”
Rachel McAdam’s new movie
McAdams is returning to the big screen with the upcoming film adaptation of Judy Blume’s book, ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’, where she plays Margaret’s mother, Barb.
With her new priorities of “normalcy” in mind, McAdams arranged to have her sister, Kayleen, as her makeup artist, so she could spend more time with her family. With her sister on the crew, McAdam’s children, who she shares with Jamie Linden, will be able to join their mother throughout the long months of filming.