It’s widely known that Taylor Swift auditioned to star in “Les Misérables,” Tom Hooper’s 2012 adaptation of the iconic stage musical. But it wasn’t until an Oct. 28 interview on “The Graham Norton Show” (via People) that Swift opened up in detail about her “nightmare” audition process for the movie. Swift is on an international press tour promoting her acclaimed 10th studio album, “Midnights,” but Norton wanted to know about why she lost out on “Les Misérables.”
“Basically, I was up for two roles,” Swift said. “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 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.”
Swift flew to London to meet Redmayne, who had already been cast in the movie as Marius. However, not everything went according to Swift’s plan.
“When I got there, they put me in full 19th century street urchin costume and told me they were going to paint my teeth brown and I was like, ‘You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne right?’” Swift said. “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.”
Swift was joined on “The Graham Norton Show” by Redmayne himself, as he’s currently on a press tour promoting his new Netflix movie “The Good Nurse.” Redmayne said, “I thought we would just be singing off each other – I didn’t know we would be in each other’s arms.”
“My overriding memory of it is that I had pizza and garlic dough balls beforehand and all I could think about was my garlic breath while Taylor was dying in my arms and I was trying to show emotion,” he added.
Swift missed out on “Les Misérables,” which grossed $441 million worldwide and earned eight Oscar nominations, but she’d later get a chance to star in another Hooper-directed movie musical: a supporting role in “Cats.” Swift also recored an original song for the “Cats” movie.