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Taylor Swift And Eddie Redmayne Hilariously Recount Their 'Nightmare' Screen Test For 'Les Miserables'
She may be one of the biggest stars in the world at the moment, but even singer/songwriter Taylor Swift has a face-plant at work now and then—for example her screen test for the 2012 film adaptation of the musical Les Misérables.
When Swift appeared on British chat show The Graham Norton Show last week to promote her new album Midnights, also on the panel of guests was actor Eddie Redmayne whose performance in the film made him a household name.
Redmayne of course has since gone on to be an Oscar-winning star, but Swift's film career hasn't exactly jumped off. And as she revealed to Norton, her audition for Les Mis alongside Redmayne didn't exactly set her up for cinematic success.
Hear Swift talk about her "nightmare" screen test below.
Taylor Swift's Audition With Eddie Redmayne Quickly Turned Into A Nightmare | The Graham Norton Showyoutu.be
As Swift told Norton, Les Mis director Tom Hooper was considering her for two roles in the film but wasn't exactly right for either one of them.
"I had the look of Cosette and the range vocally of Éponine, so it was established I was there for a good time, but not for a long time. I wasn't going to get the role."
But the chance to work with Redmayne convinced her to take the plunge anyway.
"But they asked if I would like to go to London to do a screen test with Eddie, who is one of my favorite actors, and I thought, 'This isn't an experience I am going to get again in my life,' so I said yes."
Things went left when she arrived in London and got put into wardrobe and make-up for her screen test, complete with painted-on brown teeth and ghostly white makeup to make her appear like she was on death's door.
Not exactly the look she was hoping to meet Redmayne in.
"I was like, 'You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne, right?'"
"But no, they made me look like death and it became a nightmare. When I met Eddie I didn't open my mouth to speak."
To make matters worse, Redmayne wasn't quite in top form either--after a lunch of pizza and garlic bread, an intimate scene holding Swift in his arms wasn't exactly anyone's idea of a good time.
As he told Norton:
"...[A]ll I could think about was my garlic breath while Taylor was dying in my arms and I was trying to show emotion."
In the end, Redmayne went on to become an A-list actor and the two roles Swift was considered for went to Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks while Swift went on to star in Hooper's Cats film adaptation.
And we all remember how that went.
On Twitter, people loved the anecdote and were dying to see the audition.
\u201c@swifferupdates @taylorswift13 I need to see this audition!!\ud83e\udd7a\ud83e\udd23\u201d— Taylor Swift Updates \u23f0 (@Taylor Swift Updates \u23f0) 1666983220
\u201cRELEASE THE FOOTAGE\u201d— sammy at midnight\ud83d\udd70 (@sammy at midnight\ud83d\udd70) 1666985736
\u201cCan\u2019t believe that Taylor Swift did a screen test to be \u00c9ponine from Les Mis!\u201d— Purple Jane \ud83d\udc9c (@Purple Jane \ud83d\udc9c) 1666993850
\u201c@TheSwiftSociety @taylorswift13 not brand new information but so nice to hear the details!!\u201d— The Swift Society (@The Swift Society) 1666987536
\u201cbut imagine taylor as cosette like I would have died\u201d— emma\ud83c\udf0c (@emma\ud83c\udf0c) 1667077542
\u201cI can't believe Tom Hooper didn't cast Taylor Swift in Les Mis but gave her a role in Cats. That is the definition of doing someone dirty\u201d— Jessie Thompson (@Jessie Thompson) 1666947622
\u201cTAYLOR SWIFT AUDITIONING FOR LES MIS????????\u201d— erin \u2727*:\uff65\uff9f\u2727 (@erin \u2727*:\uff65\uff9f\u2727) 1666993705
\u201cI can't believe Tom Hooper didn't cast Taylor Swift in Les Mis but gave her a role in Cats. That is the definition of doing someone dirty\u201d— Jessie Thompson (@Jessie Thompson) 1666947622
\u201c@BuzzFeed Sounds like it made her\u2026\u2026.\n\u2026\u2026\u2026\n\u2026\u2026\u2026..miserable\u201d— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) 1666988780
\u201c@WhatsOnStage "Apparently it didn't go all too well"\u201d— WhatsOnStage (@WhatsOnStage) 1666952280
Swift is currently starring in David O. Russell's Amsterdam, which has a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some people just can't catch a break!