With the highly buzzed-about, girl-power action/fantasy flick "Sucker Punch" hitting theaters in just a few days (Friday, March 25, to be exact), actress Emily Browning is poised for super stardom.
But, it seems the 22-year-old has had fame knocking on her door for quite some time now. In a candid interview with IndieWire.com, Emily revealed that not only had "Twilight" scribe Stephenie Meyer wanted her for the role of Bella Swan, but that she didn't even bother auditioning for the part!
The Aussie actress told the website, "I chose not to audition," adding, "The author at one point stated that I would be her ideal Bella, but I chose not to audition because I was at a point in my career where I wasn’t sure I wanted to work, I definitely didn’t want to sign onto a trilogy so I didn’t audition."
While a lot of people have blasted her for saying "no" to "Twilight," she insists she did not turn it down, just that there were a lot of ongoing "battles" and her decision "was really just as simple as I don’t want to work right now."
But it's not the only time Emily, who was last seen in 2009's chiller "The Uninvited," has had the opportunity to star in a big screen adaptation of a beloved YA franchise. The actress was amongst the scads of young women in Hollywood who were vying to be in "The Hunger Games," playing the coveted part of Katniss Everdeen, which, as we all know now, went to Jennifer Lawrence.
"I read for ['Hunger Games'] a couple of times," Emily said. "But I think every single girl in Hollywood read for it a couple of times to be honest." Still, Emily pulled a move that most certainly wouldn't have set well with many hardcore "Hunger Games" fans. "I’ve never read the book to be honest—which I know is terrible of me."
While the actress doesn't seem to regret her decisions (and we're sure that Kristen Stewart—who also just beat out Emily and scores of other starlets for the lead in "Snow White and the Huntsman"—most certainly doesn't either!), she does admit it's made it more difficult to choose—and discuss—future projects.
As she explained, "It’s always hard for me to talk about these kinds of things because I know there was a big deal with 'Twilight' and my involvement with people wanting me to do 'Twilight,' so I’m always like, ‘Oh, people love this book so much I don’t want to get involved, I don’t want to talk about it!’"
Though Emily had her apprehensions about joining "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" (a sort of unfathomable thing in our eyes, but, hey, to each her own!), it seems choosing Zack Snyder's eye-popping "Sucker Punch" was a no-brainer, and ultimately, a life-changing decision for her.
"At one point I was very hesitant about acting," she said. "But actually ['Sucker Punch'], to be honest with you, is the one that’s brought me back and made me realize, 'This is absolutely what I want to do!' I have faith in this industry, if a movie making experience can be this positive and this much fun, then I can’t imagine ever doing anything else.”
Do you think Emily Browning made the right choice by not auditioning for "Twilight"? Would you have liked to see her in "The Hunger Games"? Let us know in the comments section below, Crushers!
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