Josh Gadknows exactly why he wasn’t cast inJames Cameron’s epic franchise ofAvatarfilms — and it’s a funnier reason than you might think. The actor is speaking out about his experience auditioning for the popular movies in his new memoir,In Gad We Trust(out now), and even though he got far in the audition process — going so far as to fly out to Los Angeles to meet with director Cameron — he didn’t get the part due to his looks. Well, hisbluelooks.
As excerpted byEntertainment Weekly, Gad says he auditioned “to play the role of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington)’s best friend and translator to the alien race known as the Na’vi” during a decidedly joyless run in the Broadway musical,The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, back in 2006. And though Gad was committed to staying in the show until his contracted run was through, he “begged” the producers to let him audition for what might come next.
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“The wait is gonna be worth it.”
As Gad explained in his book, he “begged the producer, David Stone, to let me go for my own mental health,” as he was not enjoying his time in the Broadway show, “but he told me that it wasn’t an option.” He went on to add that Stone “did agree, however, to let me audition for film and TV and offered to give me an out if I booked one of those gigs.”
And, apparently, “one of the first things I went out for was a new James Cameron movie calledAvatar.”
“I put myself on tape and shortly thereafter got a call that Cameron wanted to fly me to Los Angeles for a final callback at his Lightstorm production offices,” Gad explained, before going on to add that it was a role he ultimately, “did not get because, while James Cameron was said to be thrilled with my audition, when I was turned into a digital Avatar I supposedly looked like a tall, overweight Smurf.”
And while the role he went out to sounds like the one that ultimately went to Joel David Moore — Dr. Norman Spellman — neither Gad nor Cameron (according toEW) have confirmed whether that was indeed the role for which he auditioned, or if the character was another that was written out of the script that ultimately became 2009’sAvatar.
Losing out on the role was a sad moment for Gad, but 2009 ended up being quite a banner year for the actor, who got his big break the same time Cameron’s epic fantasy movie premiered. It was in 2009 that Gad was hired onto Comedy Central’sThe Daily Show, where he featured as a correspondent for several years. And it was shortly thereafter that Gad was cast inThe Book of Mormon, the Broadway musical that ultimately made him famous, and likely helped him to secure his biggest role of all: that of Olaf the snowman in thehit Disney movie/franchise,Frozen.
