Taylor Swift’s ‘Les Mis’ Audition Involved Brown Teeth and Garlic Breath
Taylor Swift is back in the headlines, with a brand-new album and a tour on the way. While millions of fans know and love Swift for her singing and songwriting abilities, she is a multi-talented star with a lot of various projects to her credit. Over the past decade, Swift has appeared in everything from ensemble movies to the occasional sitcom, flexing her creative muscles and inspiring her fans. The star has had a lot of acting opportunities, but there’s one role she didn’t get. Swift revealed to Graham Norton in a recent interview that she had to audition alongside Eddie Redmayne while her teeth were brown.
What did Taylor Swift say about her ‘Les Misérables’ audition?
In a 2022 interview, Swift revealed that she was once invited to audition for the role of Éponine in the 2012 movie Les Misérables. Although she didn’t get the park, she discussed how memorable the process of auditioning for the movie was.
“Basically I was up for two roles — I had the look of Cosette and the range vocally of Éponine, so it was established I was there for a good time but not for a long time. I wasn’t going to get the role,” Swift told the host on The Graham Norton Show. “But, they asked if I would like to go to London to do a screen test with Eddie [Redmayne], who is one of my favorite actors, and I thought, ‘This isn’t an experience I am going to get again in my life,’ so I said yes.” Notably, Redmayne was also on Norton’s show that night.
“When I got there they put me in full 19th Century street urchin costume and told me they were going to paint my teeth brown and I was like, ‘You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne right?'” Swift said, laughing at the memory. “But no, they made me look like death and it became a nightmare. When I met Eddie, I didn’t open my mouth to speak!”
Redmayne joined in, noting, “My overriding memory of it is that I had had pizza and garlic dough balls beforehand, and all I could think about was my garlic breath while Taylor was dying in my arms and I was trying to show emotion.”
Taylor Swift has acted in a number of projects
Although Swift didn’t get the role in Les Mis, she has appeared in several high-profile movies over the course of her career. As noted by IMDb, some of her notable projects include a brief cameo in Hannah Montana: The Movie, the 2010 romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, and the 2014 film The Giver. She’s also appeared in TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and New Girl.
Taylor Swift’s most high-profile acting role was in ‘Cats’
By far, Swift’s most buzzed-about acting role to date was in the 2019 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage production Cats. An experienced actor by this time, she was able to utilize her musical theater skills to prepare for the production. Not only is Swift a total cat lover in real life, but she also completely committed to her role as Bombalurina, attending special classes in order to master how cats move and behave.
In addition to acting in Cats, Swift made a contribution to the film’s soundtrack, helping to write an original song for the production. While Cats didn’t get good reviews, and many critics skewered the film due to its over-the-top campiness, fans still loved seeing the star tackle something completely new and out of the box.
