In the upcoming A24 movie Materialists, Chris Evans plays a struggling actor named John. Now, while Evans is by no means a struggling actor these days, back at the start of his career, he could relate to what his character was going through in some ways. He recently proved that by recalling the story behind a “horrible” audition for The Dreamers that still haunts him.
Back in the early 2000s, Chris Evans was working his way up in Hollywood, and before 2003’s The Dreamers came out, the biggest project he’d been a part of was Not Another Teen Movie in 2001. While chatting with IMDb for the release of Materialists on the 2025 movie schedule, he also threw it back to the early days of his career and the terrible audition experience he had for the Bernardo Bertolucci movie, explaining:
The Dreamers. I had a horrible experience at that audition. It was [the] early 2000s, and it was the movie everybody wanted. I went and had to audition. I sat in this audition room waiting with like 15 other guys for hours! I finally walk in the room, I open the door, and the casting director looked up, and he was like ‘Nope. Nope, nope, nope.’ I was like ‘Oh, Jesus.’ [pretends to cry].
This story reminds me of the audition scene in La La Land, where Emma Stone’s character is giving it her all while being ignored by casting directors. However, in Evans' case, he didn’t even get the chance to show the casting director what he’d prepared. He just got a flat-out “Nope” the second he walked through the door.
Not to mention, he had to wait for hours to get that response, too. No wonder he still remembers this audition over 20 years later.
The Dreamers is a movie about an American student in Paris who winds up in a steamy friendship with two French siblings. It stars Michael Pitt as the American Matthew, and the siblings are played by Louis Garrel and Eva Green. It received mixed to positive reviews, and currently has a 59% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, as you likely know, Chris Evans went on to land major films. He played Johnny Storm in 2005’s Fantastic Four. He was part of the legendary Scott Pilgrim vs. the World cast. And, of course, in 2011, he became Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now, Chris Evans is a bona fide movie star. So even though The Dreamers didn’t work out, and he has the audition horror story to prove it, everything panned out in the end.
Along with starring in some of Marvel’s best movies, he also played a vital role in Rian Johnson’s hit whodunit, Knives Out. Now, Materialists is already earning rave reactions ahead of its June 13 premiere, and Evans’ performance is specifically being pointed to as a major highlight (which I can confirm, because I’ve seen and love the movie).
Now, I have to wonder if his audition for The Dreamers informed his performance in Celine Song’s romance in any way. John is a struggling actor, and clearly, Evans has faced some of the same challenges. However, now, thankfully, that’s all in the rear view, and he likely doesn’t have to deal with those struggles, like being totally rejected by a casting director before even getting a word in.
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