Paul Rudd revealed he initially didn’t want to play Cher’s stepbrother-turned-love interest, Josh Lucas, in “Clueless.”
During a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rudd admitted he was more interested in portraying Cher’s (Alicia Silverstone) love interest, Christian, who turns out to be gay. The role ultimately went to Justin Walker.
“I remember reading it, like, ‘Wait a minute, this is a gay character, who’s also the coolest character in the movie?” Rudd recalled to the outlet.
“I’ve never seen this before and it’s the most interesting part,” the 57-year-old actor added.
Rudd said he was also intrigued by the role of Dionne’s (Stacey Dash) boyfriend, Murray, before realizing the character was black. Donald Faison was cast as Murray.
Director Amy Heckerling ended up letting Rudd read for the parts of Christian and Josh. He got the latter role.
However, Rudd wasn’t hellbent on starring in the 1995 film before he was officially cast.
“After the audition was done, I was not on the phone with my agents, like, ‘Did I get it? Did I get it?’” he recalled in the interview.
Adam Scott, who went to acting school with Rudd, told the outlet he knew Rudd’s career would blow up once “Clueless” came out.
“I was at the premiere of ‘Clueless’ out in Malibu with him, and it comes up on this big screen on the beach, and immediately I was like, ‘Oh, Paul’s going to be a famous person now,’” the “Severance” star shared.
“And sure enough,” Scott added, “Everything changed after that. Suddenly, we could just walk into any bar. It was like, ‘Whoa, what the f–k is going on? This is incredible.’”
But once Rudd shot to stardom in 1995, he was already committed to starring in the stage production of “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” in New York — which made him unavailable for another Hollywood role.
“My agent was like, ‘What the f–k are you doing?’ ” the “Ant-Man” star remembered. “But I was so excited. I was 25 or 26, and I was about to be on Broadway.”
“Clueless,” which also starred the late Brittany Murphy as transfer student Tai Frasier, was a pop culture phenomenon upon its release and remains a cult classic.
