Jennifer Lawrence almost didn't win the Best Actress Oscar for "Silver Linings Playbook" -- because another Oscar-winning actress was cast in her part first.
In an interview with Howard Stern, super-producer Harvey Weinstein revealed that Anne Hathaway was originally tapped to play young widow Tiffany in "Silver Linings," opposite then-male lead Mark Wahlberg (who ultimately dropped out and was replaced by Bradley Cooper). But according to Weinstein, while he considered Hathaway perfect for the part, Hathaway and director David O. Russell apparently butted heads on set.
"[S]he's marvelous, and wonderful, and she was my choice, I love her," Weinstein told Stern. " ... [But] then whatever happened, happened. ... David and Anne had some creative differences. They didn't see eye-to-eye."
Hathaway dropped out of the project, leading filmmakers to scramble to find a replacement.
Weinstein said the production was still lamenting the loss of its lead when Lawrence and several other actresses came in to read for the role; something changed "the minute we saw Jennifer Lawrence's tape," he said.
"I said, 'How the hell are we gonna replace Annie?' And then this amazing creature walked in," Weinstein recalled.
As we all know, Lawrence nailed the part, and walked away from last year's Oscars with a big shiny trophy. And Hathaway clearly bounced back, too, nabbing her own little gold guy for her supporting role in "Les Miserables." But could she have potentially won another Academy Award had she stayed on for "Silver Linings"? We may never know. We're just glad we got Lawrence's electric performance -- and subsequent awkward tumble/awesome speech at the Oscars -- out of the switch-up.
[via: Contact Music]