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- Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, 1981. Discusssed for Stacy in the classic Cameron Crowe scenario.
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface, 1982. Although far too tall for the titular Al Pacino, Geena tested as the glacial Elvira Hancock. So did Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Colleen Camp, Glenn Close, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Kelly McGillis, Kristy McNichol, Deborah Raffin, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner.
- Pamela Stephenson, Saturday Night Live, TV, 1984-85. Geena almost won a regular spot on the in-comedy show but exec producer Dick Ebersol preferred a more known actress and finally settled on New Zealander Pamela Stephenson - totally unknown in the US! She was first non-American SNL player. Pamela quit acting in ’87 to marry her partner, Scots comic Billy Connolly, earn a psychology doctorate and become a clinical psychologist and writer: Dr Pamela Stephenson Connolly.
- Gale Barle, The Ratings Game, TV, 1983. The tall Geena was tested for various roles in the TV satire - such as Hamilton’s Girl. And went in to another TV send-up opposite Dabney Coleman as egotistical chat show host Buffalo Bill of the WBFL station in Buffalo, NY.
- Sissy Spacek, Crimes of the Heart, 1986. Davis auditioned but... Sissy spaceked!
- Kelly McGillis, The Accused, 1987. Paramount suits saw more than 30 young actresses for the (real life) gang rape victim (or their own rape bait fantasies) - and a further 28 for her defence attorney. Including Glenn Close, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Goldie Hawn, Barbara Hershey, Amy Irving, Dianes Keaton and Lane, Jessica Lange, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Mary Steenburgen, Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Dianne Wiest, Debra Winger. McGillis, a 1982 rape victim herself, refused Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning role, and asked to be her lawyer.
- Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham, 1987. The film that started the 23 year love affair of co-stars Sarandon and Tim Robbins. In 1990, Geena and Sarandon became the iconic Thelma & Louise.
- Nicole Kidman, Dead Calm, Australia, 1988. Geena was up for Rae Ingram ... Then, Kidman auditioned.
- Saffron Henderson, The Fly II, 1989. Yeah, come join the sequel, Geena - but, er, your character is knocked off real early, OK?
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Annette Bening, The Grifters, 1990. When UK director Stephen Frears was thinking about Melanie Griffiths for Geena’s mother.
- Catherine O’Hara, Home Alone, 1990. An astonishing 37 stars (Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, etc) were considered for the forgetful parents - nothing roles in a film written for and duly stolen by the stranded kid, Macauley Culkin.
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise, 1990.
- Annette Bening, Bugsy, 1991. Geena met with Warren Beatty and Barry Levinson. But Annette had Beatty's baby and married the man! And had three more children.
- Penelope Ann Miller, Other People's Money, 1991. Canadian director Norman Jewison lost Michelle Pfeiffer (and Hoffman) and started all over... Geena had won her Accidental Tourist Oscar when Lawrence Kasdan felt Miller too young for the role.
- Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct, 1991.
- Sharon Stone, Sliver, 1993. Producer Robert Evans kept telling Stone's agent he was thisclose to closing with Geena. He hit upon the rght name! Sharon apparently loathed Geena for making Sharon a mere second choice for what proved her breakthrough, Basic Instinct. She did not want Sliver, said Evans, "but she sure in hell didn't want Geena to have it."
- Marisa Tomei, Untamed Heart, 1993. Very keen on what was then The Baboon Heart. The producers were very not.
- Sandra Bullock, Speed, 1993. Although sharing the heroics and the driving of the bus-bomb with Keanu Reeves, most girls saw it as The Guy’s film. An amazing 36 refused to be Annie: Geena, Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Halle Berry, Glenn Close (!), Cameron Diaz, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Mariska Hargitay, Barbara Hershey, Anjelica Huston, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Alyssa Milano, Demi Moore, Tatum O’Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Jane Seymour, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Meryl Streep (!), Emma Thompson (!), Meg Tilly, Marisa Tomei, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver and Debra Winger.
- Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction, 1994. Once again thisclose to a great role. But Mia Wallace ignited Quentin Tarantino’s artistic love affair with Thurman. He next waited out her pregnancy to make Kill Bill with her.
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Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County, 1994. A change in directors (Sidney Pollack to Bruce Beresford to Clint Eastwood) meant Davis was out and “our best actress” (said Clint - and his mum!) was in. Davis made Cutthroat Island - and plummeted from the A to Z-List overnight.
- Demi Moore, Disclosure, 1994. Novelist and co-producer Michael Crichton's first choice when Czech director Milos Forman was set to make the film. And that was one of the reasons he quit.
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Wolf, 1994. After coming close with Revenge, 1990, and Legends of the Fall, 1994 Jack Nicholson finally made a script by his novelist pal Jim Harrison. Geena did not.
- Cindy Crawford, Fair Game, 1995. Real actresses, then models, were seen for what had been Brigitte Nielsen’s role in Sylvester Stallone’s Cobra, 1986. Sly refused the re-tread
- Holly Hunter, Copy Cat, 1995. Geena was also considered for another teaming with Sigourney Weaver, Counterstrike.
- Julia Roberts, Runaway Bride, 1999. Davis-Harrison Ford became a Class of ’90 reunion: Julia-Richard Gere. Made sense! Except this was no Pretty Woman II.
- Joe Mantegna, Criminal Minds, TV, 2009- . How do you persuade her to succeed Mandy Pantinkin as a simple head honcho of the FBI profilers... when she had just been Commander In Chief...?
- Cameron Diaz, Gangs of New York, 2001. Geena was among many actresses attached (momentarily) to the Martin Scorsese project. The weakest of whom was... Diaz.
- Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries, 2001. Among 22 youngstars (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, etc) rejecting the awkward San Francisco teenager being groomed (by Julie Andrews!) to inherit the Genovia throne - after director Garry Marshall’s first choice (shock!) of Juliette Lewis quit.
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Actors (A..Z)