Why Alicia Silverstone Turned Down Beverly Hills, 90210

Even though she really became a movie star with Amy Heckerling's 1995 screwball comedy, "Clueless," if you were a youngster in the 1990s, there's no way you didn't know Alicia Silverstone from those steamy and rebellious Aerosmith music videos — "Amazing," "Cryin'," and "Crazy" — first. You had to: She was drop-dead gorgeous, cute, and mysterious, and had a lot of opportunities to choose from even before "Clueless" became a hit. She had truly been the Queen of the '90s for a while, and even I know that, as a guy who wasn't necessarily well-versed in the Silverstone universe (I do remember her as Batgirl in "Batman & Robin," though, since you can't erase that movie from your mind, for better or worse).

But even before high-schooler Cher Horowitz conquered the big screen next to Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, and Stacy Dash, Silverstone had already appeared in a few films like "The Crush" (trying to seduce Cary Elwes), "New World" (acting alongside James Gandolfini), and "Hideaway" (a forgettable Dean Koontz horror starring Jeff Goldblum). None of those were particularly ground-breaking or memorable, but they gave Silverstone some momentum to further her acting career. So much so that she got an offer to be in one of the most famous and beloved teen drama series of the '90s, "Beverly Hills, 90210." But she turned it down.

To this day, I'm fascinated by the evolution of television and how it caught up with cinema over the years, often matching or even surpassing the quality of movies made these days. Have you got a long, epic, and sprawling story with numerous layers, themes, and subplots to tell? Make a TV show. But in the early '90s — despite cultural touchstones like "Northern Exposure," "Friends," or "The X Files" — TV was still considered small-time. And most aspiring actors were trying to get into the film business instead of settling for the small screen. 

Silverstone's star had just started to shine back then, and she would've been a fool to get locked into a long-running (and frankly, very soapy) TV series instead of chasing bigger big screen dreams. According to a 1995 interview with EW, the actress was offered a role in "Beverly Hills, 90210," but she wisely turned it down. She said:

"Like, the way Shannen Doherty [one of the main stars in 'Beverly Hills, 90210"' got famous. She's famous because of all the bad things people read about her, right? I would die if that was me. There's no reason to get locked into a television show when you might be able to do a movie with somebody like Al Pacino."

That wasn't a bad way to approach a career, and Silverstone did star in numerous films after "Clueless," even if they weren't all huge successes and didn't necessarily become classics worth remembering. She took her shot and tried to do the best with it. Perhaps it didn't work out perfectly, but it's still better than living with regrets.