Blake Lively stars in the upcoming film Savages, alongside John Travolta, Salma Hayek and Benecio del Toro…but she wasn’t the actress originally cast in the role. Lively got the part after Jennifer Lawrence backed out to do The Hunger Games.
The Gossip Girl star plays privileged hippie-turned-kidnapping victim Ophelia in Oliver Stone‘s upcoming crime thriller, but Stone admits that Lively wasn’t his first choice. He tells Bullet magazine, “Blake wasn’t quite perfect for the role, but she was certainly in that ballpark.”
And even after handing her the part after Jennifer Lawrence dropped out, Stone knew Blake Lively would have to step out of her comfort zone, adding, “A lot of it – the sex, violence, and drugs – was probably scary and challenging for Blake, who seems like she comes from a nice family. It ain’t a DisneyWorld ride and it certainly ain’t the Upper East Side.”
Watch the trailer for Savages below:
