1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn't particularly want to be in 10 Things I Hate About You as he was looking to star in more serious movies. He also auditioned for the role of Michael and preferred that character to Cameron.
2. And Heath Ledger's first audition for Patrick Verona didn't go very well, but the casting director was so impressed by his charisma that she brought him in again for a second one.
3. The original casting director for Clueless was really keen to get Ben Affleck to play the role of Josh, and the actor even read for the part.
4. The director wrote the role of Mr. Hall for Wallace Shawn, but just had to go through the motions of auditioning other actors.
5. Toni Collette was offered the role of Bridget in Bridget Jones' Diary but turned it down.
6. Colin Firth initially said no to playing Mark Darcy because he thought the character didn't do much, but changed his mind when he realised that playing him could be a fun challenge to take on.
7. Taylor Swift's actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn actually auditioned for the role of Samuel in Love Actually when he was a kid.
8. The role of Natalie was written for Martine McCutcheon after Richard Curtis saw her in My Fair Lady.
9. Richard Curtis says he had two people in mind for the character of Billy Mack – an unnamed very famous actor and a very famous comedian – but cast Bill Nighy five minutes after seeing him.
10. Rob Reiner was reluctant to cast Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally as they were best friends IRL and he was worried about what would happen if it didn't work. Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks, and Michael Keaton were among actors approached first.
11. Noah Centineo was also considered for the role of Josh in To All The Boys I've Loved Before, but after seeing his chemistry with Lana Condor the director opted to make him Peter Kavinsky.
12. The two stars' first meeting was like a rom-com meet-cute. Lana Condor turned down his request to run lines together while in the waiting room for the auditions, as she really wanted to focus on memorising them without distraction.
13. And producers didn't realise quite how tall Noah was until after he had been cast, when Lana couldn't make it into a frame with him during the camera test due to their height difference.
14. Putting Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe was a "pie in the sky" gamble, and the director wrote him into the script before approaching his agent to see if he'd be up for it.
15. Julia Roberts was offered the lead role in Sleepless in Seattle but turned it down.
16. In a meeting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the director of 500 Days of Summer asked him who he saw Summer being. He instantly said Zooey Deschanel and they hired her shortly before going on to hire him.
17. Anne Hathaway was set to star in Knocked Up but declined because of nudity in the film that she didn't feel was necessary to the story.
18. Henry Golding was a TV presenter before being cast in Crazy Rich Asians and turned down the chance to audition for the movie several times, because he was worried that he wouldn't do it justice and thought they would be after a more seasoned actor.
19. In The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carrell's IRL wife plays the counselor at the health clinic where Andy goes with Maria.
20. Brendan Fraser was meant to co-star in The Wedding Planner, but dropped out to be in Bedazzled.
21. Jennifer Garner wanted to be in Love, Simon but had reservations over that big scene between her character and Simon, saying it "wasn't specific enough". They then crafted a new scene which is what we see towards the third act.
22. Jack Black's character in The Holiday was written for him after Nancy Meyers saw him in School of Rock.
23. And he accepted because he wanted to make a movie that his mum could watch and enjoy. He said The Holiday is "her favourite kind of movie. A love story with sweet feelings and lots of emotions."
