Emma Stone has emerged as one of the frontrunners in the race for the Oscar for Best Actress at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards.
Although Killers Of The Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone has previously been considered the most likely winner following a string of early wins at smaller award ceremonies, Stone’s campaign got new life after she won Leading Actress at the BAFTAs last weekend for Poor Things, though Gladstone wasn’t nominated by that body.
Stone has emerged in recent years as one of the most popular actresses of her generation based on a string of acclaimed performances following her breakout role in 2007’s Superbad.
But her career is littered with other high-profile roles that could have drastically changed the course of her career had she ultimately been cast.
Ahead of Oscars, which air on March 10, DailyMail.com looks back on 10 of the biggest roles that Stone almost played.
As Emma Stone emerges as an Oscars frontrunner, DailyMail.com takes a look back at 10 roles she almost played; seen January 12 in LA
Emma read for the part of the best friend Needy (played by Amanda Seyfried) in the 2009 horror–comedy Jennifer’s Body, which starred Megan Fox, though she wasn’t offered the role (pictured)
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Jennifer’s Body, which was directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Juno scribe Diablo Cody, has been reevaluated as a cult classic in recent years following its disappointing box office performance and initially mixed reviews.
But it was probably to the benefit of Stone’s career that she didn’t ultimately book the horror-comedy, as its initial failure might have slowed her ascendant career trajectory.
The film stars Megan Fox as the title character, a popular high school cheerleader who is murdered by a rock band as part of a sacrifice to ensure their rise to fame.
However, she rises from the dead as if nothing happened and begins to devour her male classmates while her best friend, Anita ‘Needy’ Lesnicki is caught in the middle.
Amanda Seyfried portrayed Needy on screen, but Kusama and Cody both listed Stone as part of a trio of actresses who read for the part — including Lizzy Caplan and Amanda Bynes — in a 2019 Variety interview commemorating the horror–comedy’s 10th anniversary.
Stone didn’t get the part, though, and instead starred in Zombieland, a horror–comedy that leans much heavier on the comedy and was a legitimate hit, though it hasn’t had the critical reevaluation that Jennifer’s Body has benefited from.
Emma was originally set to star in Focus (2015), but she was replaced by future Barbie star Margot Robbie. The movie would have reunited Emma with Crazy, Stupid, Love costar Ryan Gosling, but he was also replaced by Will Smith; seen February 18 in London
Focus (2015)
Emma Stone lost out on the 2015 film Focus to another acclaimed actress from a 2023 film — Margot Robbie.
The Barbie star — who wasn’t nominated for her performance in that film to the disappointment of its many fans — starred with Will Smith in Focus.
He played a master con artist, while she played an aspiring scammer that he took under his wing.
But the film was originally envisioned as an on-screen reunion for Emma with her Crazy, Stupid, Love costar Ryan Gosling, according to Deadline.
The two would also be reuniting with that film’s directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
Ficarra and Requa stuck with the project, but both Emma and Ryan — who later starred opposite Margot in Barbie — left the project over scheduling conflicts.
Ben Affleck was briefly considered for the lead male role, before Will Smith was slotted in alongside Margot.
Stone would have collaborated with Guillermo del Toro on his gothic horror film Crimson Peak, until she dropped out for scheduling reasons. Mia Wasikowska then took on the lead role
Crimson Peak (2015)
Emma had another project that almost worked out that year: the gothic horror film Crimson Peak.
The movie, which was directed and co-written by future Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, eventually starred Mia Wasikowska as the writer Edith Cushing, the daughter of a wealthy businessman in Buffalo, New York, circa 1887.
After the English baronet Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) begins to pursue her, they marry and she moves to his dilapidated estate in England, where he lives with his sister (played by Jessica Chastain), but ghostly visions she experiences in their mansion suggest that the baronet and his sister have sinister plans for her.
Stone was first slotted into the role that Wasikowska eventually took over, but she eventually had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
The Wrap reported at the time that she left the project to focus on Cameron Crowe’s critically reviled Aloha and the Woody Allen rom-com Magic In The Moonlight, which she starred in opposite Colin Firth.
Benedict Cumberbatch had also been attached to star in the role that Hiddleston took over, but he reportedly left due to creative differences, though he was said to still be on good terms with del Toro.
Emma was considered for the love interest role in Baby Driver, which eventually went to Lily James. However, she was never offered the part, which may have been too small for her at that point
Baby Driver (2017)
Emma Stone wasn’t officially cast in Edgar Wright’s hit action-comedy Baby Driver, but she was reportedly considered for the film.
According to Collider, Emma was at one point considered to play the love interest to lead Ansel Elgort, while Michael Douglas was also considered for a role that eventually went to Kevin Spacey.
Emma was reportedly never offered the role, and it’s hard to imagine Baby Driver as being anything other than a step down for her as it was eventually conceived.
Lily James eventually played the waitress Debora, who strikes up a romance with Elgort’s lead, but the role as written was fairly limited, and it’s hard to imagine Stone signing up for it on the heels of her acclaimed lead role in La La Land, which reunited her with Ryan Gosling and earned her a Best Actress Oscar.
Stone dropped out of the 2012 comedy 21 Jump Street over fears of being in another franchise after working on the Amazing Spider-Man films. She was replaced by Brie Larson (pictured with Jonah Hill)
21 Jump Street (2012)
Emma Stone almost reunited with her Superbad costar Jonah Hill in the 2012 action comedy 21 Jump Street.
The film, which featured Channing Tatum as co-lead, was a remake of the late-’80s tv series that starred a young Johnny Depp as a police officer who goes undercover as a high school student.
Stone was intended for the role that Brie Larson eventually filled as a student who falls in love with Hill’s undercover officer while he’s investigating a drug ring.
Emma told MTV in 2010 that she had dropped out of the film due to scheduling conflicts with The Amazing Spider-Man, via Collider.
The 21 Jump Street role is another part that is difficult in hindsight to imagine Stone playing, as Larson’s role was much smaller than parts Stone had already had in Crazy, Stupid, Love and the Oscar-winner The Help (both from 2011).
Emails from the Sony Pictures Hack revealed Emma and her friend Jennifer Lawrence were considered for the female-led Ghostbusters, but she was afraid to join another franchise
Ghostbusters (2016)
After Sony Pictures’ emails were hacked in 2014 and made public, the Daily Beast reported that Stone was one of the A-listers being considered for an all-female reboot of Ghostbusters.
The leak also indicated that her friend Jennifer Lawrence was being considered, as was Melissa McCarthy, the only one of the trio who was featured in the final film.
The female-led Ghostbusters was eventually filled out with Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, while Chris Hemsworth had a comic role as their secretary.
Despite benefitting from the franchise trappings, the film was blasted by toxic male fans outraged at the female-led casting, and it underperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews.
In 2015, Emma explained to Variety that she found the script ‘funny,’ but she was afraid to commit to another franchise after her experience working on two Amazing Spider-Man films.
‘It just didn’t feel like the right time for me. A franchise is a big commitment — it’s a whole thing,’ she said. ‘I think maybe I need a minute before I dive back into that water.’
She was lucky to avoid the 2011 film Sucker Punch, which disappointed at the box office and received poor reviews. Jamie Chung took over her fifth-billed role
Sucker Punch (2011)
Emma was offered a chance to establish her action-film bona fides with a role in Zack Snyder’s 2011 movie Sucker Punch.
The movie starred Emily Browning as a young patient at a mental institution who experiences violent fantasies costarring her fellow inmates in which they escape.
Emma was offered one of the smaller parts as the doomed Amber, which later went to Jamie Chung after she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, according to Empire.
The future Oscar winner seems to have dodged a bullet, as Sucker Punch was a critical and box office disappointment, and even some of Snyder’s biggest fans are loathe to defend the film.
Stone had the chance to work with director Greta Gerwig on her hit Little Women adaptation, but she was replaced by Emma Watson after dropping out for publicity obligations for The Favourite
Little Women (2019)
Emma was locked and loaded on Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women, which became a box office hit and received glowing reviews from critics.
However, she was forced to drop out of the period adaptation, which starred Saoirse Ronan as Jo March.
This time it wasn’t to star in another film, but rather to be available for the publicity campaign on her Oscar-winning film The Favourite, which was her first collaboration with Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, according to Variety.
She had been set to play the role of Meg March, which was taken by The Bling Ring star Emma Watson.
Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen rounded out the quartet of sisters as Amy and Beth March, while Laura Dern and Bob Odenkirk played their parents and Timothée Chalamet appeared as Jo and Amy’s love interest Laurie.
Stone turned down the role of Minerva/Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984, which got mixed reviews and helped usher in a reboot of the DC Comics films. Kristen Wiig eventually played the poorly reviewed part
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Emma got another lucky break after passing on the super hero film Wonder Woman 1984.
She had been the first choice of director Patty Jenkins, according to then-Variety film reporter Justin Kroll, who shared the news on Twitter (later renamed X).
She would have played the role of the villain Barbara Minerva, who later transforms into Cheetah. The role was subsequently snatched up by Kristen Wiig, but it turned out to be a disaster when the film underperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews.
Stone might not have even fit in the film, as her sky-high stature in Hollywood would have made it awkward for her to play second fiddle to Gal Gadot.
One of her earlier roles could have been in Heroes, but she witnessed star Hayden Panettiere nail the audition. Luckily, missing out left her open to accept her breakout role in Superbad
Heroes (2006–2010)
Emma has largely focused on cultivating a film career, though she has made brief diversions for television with the acclaimed series Maniac (2018) and The Curse (2023).
But one of the earliest roles she hoped to nab — even before her breakout role in Superbad — was in the NBC series Heroes.
The show followed a group of people who suddenly develop super powers, putting their existence — and the world’s safety — in jeopardy.
Hayden Panettiere was one of the show’s biggest breakouts Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader who discovers she has super-human strength and the ability to heal devastating wounds in seconds.
Emma revealed in a 2011 Vanity Fair profile that she had auditioned for the role that went to Hayden, and she overheard the heartbreaking news that she wouldn’t be getting the part.
‘I could hear that, in the other room, a girl had just gone in and they were saying, “You are our pick … On a scale of 1 to 10 you’re an 11.”‘
She saw the actress exiting and realized it was Hayden, who ended up starring on the series.
The show received stellar reviews in its first season, but its second season was hobbled by the 2007–08 writers strike, and its third and fourth seasons received more lackluster reviews.
However, not booking Heroes left Emma’s schedule wide open when she subsequently booked Superbad, starting her seemingly unstoppable Hollywood ascent.
