There aren’t many gigs in Hollywood as lucrative as Tom Cruise movies. He’s long been one of the biggest film stars on the planet, any chance to be in one of his pictures is worthwhile. Patricia Arquette had that opportunity once upon a time, but a bad audition cost her the role.
“Everyone was saying, ‘Oh, this is just a formality, you’re gonna read with Tom Cruise for Jerry Maguire, but this is your part, you got it,'” she told Variety. “And I blew it.” Ooft. The sports movie stars Cruise as a smooth agent who decides to start his own firm to counteract unethical behaviour from his peers. Cameron Crowe directed it, and considering it became one of the biggest ’90s movies, that has to sting.
Renée Zellweger got the part, as colleague and love interest Dorothy, and Arquette applauds her work. “I actually think she was better for it, and she was great,” Arquette added.
Not that Arquette’s career is any lesser for it. She’s worked with Scorsese and Lynch, making thriller movies, drama movies, Pixar movies, and more.
She’s a powerhouse, and you can currently find her in sci-fi series Severance, playing the mysterious villain Harmony Cobel.