Paul Rudd Originally Wanted To Audition For A Different Role In Clueless
While Paul Rudd's role as Phoebe's boyfriend, Mike Hannigan, in "Friends" may have secured him the status of the nation's favorite boyfriend, it was his role in Amy Heckerling's "Clueless" that earned Rudd the mantle of "heartthrob." Based on Jane Austen's "Emma," Rudd's role as the mild-mannered, smart and snarky Josh was designed as a counterpart to Mr. Knightley, who starts as a kind of cheeky antagonist to the titular Emma Woodhouse before discovering his true feelings. The film follows Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), a popular Beverley Hills high-school student with a penchant for matchmaking. She makes it her mission to provide a new student a makeover ... and eventually discovers her feelings for her former stepbrother (played by Rudd).
The ageless actor has been charismatic since his first major motion picture role — Josh has an easy-going charm, he's ambitious and compassionate — not to mention the actor playing him is devastatingly good-looking. It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Josh because of how effortlessly Rudd embodied the character. It wasn't a role he was initially excited about though — the actor was leaning towards auditioning for another character — that of Murray, played by Donald Faison.
'There's nothing really funny about this part'
Paul Rudd broke down his most iconic characters in an interview with GQ — where the actor shared his first thoughts on the script for "Clueless" and his perception of the characters:
"When I first read the script for Clueless, I though, 'Okay, this is gonna be another movie about a bunch of kids.' And [the movie] seemed pretty smart. I was really kind of into it as I was reading it and I thought all the characters were unique."
Rudd has been asked to read for Josh, but the actor was far more interested in playing a funny character. The role that piqued his interest was that of Murray — who was hilarious and had a great sense of style. He rocked baggy pants and a baseball cap, made witty remarks and looked effortlessly cool. Murray was kind of a badass ... and Rudd was sold.
Paul Rudd was meant to play Josh
When Rudd was informed the part of Murray was reserved for a Black actor, he ended up auditioning for Josh — which is the role he eventually took on.
Here's the actor's full quote from the interview:
"I'd been asked to read for Josh, for the part that I played. But when I went into the audition, I said, 'You know this part's really, there's nothing really funny about this part that, I'd love to read for this one.' They said, 'Sure, read for whatever, whatever you want.' But I said, 'Well Murray's really funny.' And then they said, 'Well actually that's an African American part.' I said, 'Okay, well then I won't read for that one, but uh ...' Then they said, 'Well would you, would you read for Josh? The one that you were supposed to read for at the first place?'"
For years Paul Rudd has been associated with playing Josh, despite his string of successful performances, most recently his stint as Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rudd has a ton of credits under his belt you'd say are far better in illustrating his versatility as a performer ... but he'll always be cool boy Josh.