{"id":702864,"date":"2026-07-21T05:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/702864\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T05:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:54:17","slug":"geena-davis-says-she-was-told-she-wasnt-attractive-enough-for-the-female-lead-in-1980s-cult-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/702864\/","title":{"rendered":"Geena Davis says she was told she wasn\u2019t attractive enough for the female lead in 1980s cult classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

Geena Davis has revealed she was told she wasn\u2019t \u201cattractive\u201d enough<\/a> to play the female lead in the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy<\/a>, Fletch.<\/p>\n

Instead, Davis ended up with a supporting role as Larry, a young woman who becomes embroiled in the investigation led by Chase\u2019s investigative reporter character, Irwin \u201cFletch\u201d Fletcher.<\/p>\n

Davis spoke about the cult classic while appearing on Monday\u2019s episode of Dax Shepard\u2019s Armchair Expert podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

Citing Fletch as one of his all-time favorite comedies, Shepard asked Davis what it was like working with the famously acerbic Chase<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you know, I had such a small part,\u201d Davis responded. \u201cI originally auditioned for the lead female character… And I\u2019m pretty sure they said, \u2018Well, you\u2019re not attractive enough to play that part, but we think you\u2019re so funny, we want you in the movie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GeenaGeena Davis said she landed the role of Larry in \u2018Fletch\u2019 after being told she was not attractive enough to play the female lead (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Dana Wheeler-Nicholson ended up playing the film\u2019s female lead, Gail Stanwyk, the wife of millionaire Alan Stanwyk, who attempts to pay Fletch to kill him after claiming he has terminal cancer and that suicide would invalidate his life insurance policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was \u201885 where they would tell you, you\u2019re not attractive,\u201d Shepard said incredulously.<\/p>\n

Davis continued: \u201cAnd they said, \u2018Oh there\u2019s this part of this morgue chief, whose name is Larry, but we’ll change it to a female for you.\u2019 And I said, \u2018But I still want to be Larry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that Chase was not \u201cgrouchy\u201d <\/a>at all during filming, despite the reputation for being difficult that has followed him in later years.<\/p>\n

Davis, 70, has previously opened up about struggling with her appearance and the way she was perceived in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\"GeenaGeena Davis starred opposite Chevy Chase in the cult classic 1985 comedy (Universal Pictures)<\/p>\n

The Thelma & Louise star became a model before beginning her acting career, which started when she was cast by director Sydney Pollack in his 1982 cult classic Tootsie.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Times <\/a>ahead of the release of her 2022 memoir, Dying of Politeness, Davis said that becoming a model did nothing to convince her of her own beauty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought I had figured out some magical way of holding my body so they would think I was pretty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I beautiful? I can be beautiful, where I actually accept it, when I\u2019m all dressed up, makeup and hair and everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I think, \u2018Oh yeah, I\u2019m not so bad\u2019. But it\u2019s a struggle. It\u2019s [always been] a struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her struggle \u201chasn\u2019t been a source of pain,\u201d she said: \u201cIt\u2019s got much better over the years. I feel like I\u2019ve got more attractive with every decade. Either I have or I\u2019m feeling better about myself. Which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-702864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}