Julia Fox says she had to “convince” studios to gamble on her for “Uncut Gems.”
The actress, who made her breakout performance in Josh and Benny Safdie’s 2019 hit, said during Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast (in the video below) that there was studio pressure to have Scarlett Johansson in the role instead.
Fox played the mistress of Adam Sandler’s New York City jeweler Howard Ratner, whose sports gambling addiction throws his professional and personal life into chaos. The Safdie brothers, who became friends with Fox in the early 2010s, wrote the role for her. However, that didn’t mean that she automatically had the part.
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“People knew who I was. I was like a hood celebrity, and these directors heard about me and wanted to meet me,” Fox said. “They were writing a part for this young girl who has kind of a sugar daddy situation. And that movie would go on to become ‘Uncut Gems.’ I auditioned like everyone else. Unfortunately, even though they had written it for me, the studios were like, ‘We don’t know her.’ They wanted Scarlett Johansson and all these other beautiful women, and established actresses. I did a screen test with Adam Sandler, and it went really well, and they were able to convince the studios to let me do it.” (Fox previously said that “about 300 girls” auditioned to play her role.)
IndieWire has reached out to “Uncut Gems” A24 distributor for comment. (Fox’s “Uncut Gems” role is not unlike Johansson’s part in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s 2013 directorial debut “Don Jon.”)
Fox was a first-time actress and admitted that, at the time, she “didn’t even know” if she could even act. “But I had a hunch,” Fox said. She later went on to collaborate with Steven Soderbergh for “Presence” and “No Sudden Move.” Fox additionally has her feature writing debut, “Lipstick Palm,” in the works.
“Uncut Gems” won Best Director at the New York Film Critics Circle and Best Screenplay at the National Board of Review. It was snubbed for nominations at the 2020 Academy Awards, however.
Josh and Benny Safdie, who no longer co-direct, both have films set for release at A24: Benny Safdie directed “The Smashing Machine” with Dwayne Johnson, with Josh Safdie behind the camera on the upcoming “Marty Supreme” with Timothée Chalamet.
