Julianne Moore on ‘Watch What Happens Live.’ (Screenshot via YouTube)
Julianne Moore was fired from her role as lesbian biographer Lee Israel in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” because she wanted to wear a fat suit and prosthetic nose.
Moore told Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” that she was fired from the film by screenwriter Nicole Holofcener who was the director at the time.
“I didn’t leave that movie. I was fired,” Moore revealed.”Yeah yeah, Nicole fired me. So yeah, that’s the truth. I really think she didn’t like what I was doing. I think her idea of where the character was, was different than where my idea of the character was. And so she fired me. It’s pretty bad. The only other time I was fired was when I was working at a yogurt stand when I was 15. So it felt bad.”
The role ultimately went to Melissa McCarthy.
The film’s other star Richard E. Grant told Advertising Week Europe that the reason was because Moore wanted “a fat suit and a false nose” for the role, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
“Julianne Moore wanted to wear a fat suit and a false nose to play Lee Israel and Nicole Holofcener said, ‘You’re not going to do that,’ Grant said.”The original cast was going to be directed by Bob Balaban with Helena Bonham Carter and Sam Rockwell playing my part. Fast forward 10 years and then it was going to be Julianne Moore and Chris O’Dowd and then Nicole Holofcener, the co-screenwriter, fired Julianne Moore two days before they started shooting over creative differences.”
McCarthy went on to receive Best Actress nominations for the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for the role.
