Taylor Swift revealed that she screen tested for a role in the film adaptation of Les Misérables, and she says that the experience was a “nightmare.” While appearing on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show to promote her new album Midnights, the star shared that she had been auditioning for two roles in the 2012 film—heroines Cosette and Éponine— and though she knew she was unlikely to get either, she jumped at the chance to screen test with star Eddie Redmayne.
(The roles of Cosette and Éponine ultimately went to Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks, respectively).
“Basically I was auditioning for two roles in Les Mis, and I’d done a few auditions and gone to New York. I had more of 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,” Swift told the BBC One show’s host.
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Despite it being unlikely that she would book either role, she was offered the chance to test with Redmayne, who had already been cast as both girls’ love interest Marius. With the singer gushing about the Theory of Everything star as “one of her favorite actors,” she explained the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“This seems like an experience I want to have in my life…so yeah, I’ll go to London,” she said.
Upon arriving to London, director Tom Hooper wanted Swift in full costume for the role of Éponine, who—for lack of a better term, is a “19th century street urchin.” The transformation included dark makeup under her eyes and painting her teeth brown, which she hoped would come after she had a chance to meet Redmayne out of costume.
“So you’re gonna do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne, right? That’s not something you do before, I get to meet people and then you do the brown teeth?” The star joked.
But Swift could only be so lucky in her wildest dreams, and she recalled thinking, “This has immediately become a nightmare for me.”
Related: Twilight: New Moon Director Says Taylor Swift Tried to Get a Role in the Film
Eddie Redmayne Says Screen Test Was Equally Awkward for Him: ‘I Had Garlic Breath’
Universal Pictures
Though Swift barely opened her mouth when she first met Redmayne in an attempt to hide her new street urchin smile, the actor says he had his own insecurities during the London screen test.
“My overwhelming memory is that I had just been to Pizza Express before and I had some garlic dough balls…It was so weird because Taylor was fully dressed as Éponine, and I was like in my track suit,” recalled Redmayne, who appeared alongside his would’ve-been Les Mis co-star on The Graham Norton Show.
And if that weren’t enough, the two had to get real close real fast. Performing an emotional number where Éponine dies in Marius’ arms, Redmayne says he didn’t want to “punish” his scene partner with his offensive breath.
“I thought we would just be singing off each other…And they had us on the floor singing sweet nothings to each other, and all I knew is that I just had garlic breath,” he said. “I was trying to show emotion while also at the same time not to punish you.”
“It’s nice to know we were both struggling in that moment,” Swift laughed.
Watch the full Graham Norton Show segment below:
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