The Real Reason Jennifer Connelly Lost Out On A Career-Changing Role
While the 1986 movie "Labyrinth" is now regarded as a cult classic with a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — though all the reviews listed there are from 2000 or later — it was a box-office disappointment upon release. The film brought in less than 14 million dollars, which was about half of its $25 million budget, per Vox. While many critics praised the technical wizardry of Jim Henson's puppets in one of his last significant film productions, the same couldn't be said for the film's human stars. David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King, who steals a teen's baby brother, earned some praise, but critics mostly agreed that Jennifer Connelly as Sarah — aged 14 when "Labyrinth" was filmed — didn't stack up.
The New York Times, in an otherwise glowing review, called Connelly "unfortunately disappointing," saying, "she looks right, but she lacks conviction and seems to be reading rehearsed lines that are recited without belief in her goal or real need to accomplish it." Similarly, the Montreal Gazette said, "The film would have been better if Henson had filled the role of Sarah with an actress who didn't always look as though she were reading her lines off a cue card." The Los Angeles Daily News harshly called her "a bland and minimally talented young actress." Ouch!
Just like the movie, Connelly got much better — and more appreciated — as she got older. She was even considered for a role that would have catapulted her career.
Jennifer Connelly missed out on the lead role in Pretty Woman
Perhaps that's why Jennifer Connelly's career started kind of slowly — even though "Labyrinth" was her fourth film, per Vox. While she eventually became a megastar, she was in the running for an early role that might have caused her star to rise a lot faster: "Pretty Woman."
The original screenplay for 1990's "Pretty Woman," penned by J.F. Lawton, was a lot grittier and darker than the final version released by Touchstone Pictures, the adult-themed arm of Disney. Originally titled "$3,000," it contained many of the same characters and beats in the final film but was intended as a sinister allegory about corporate greed, not the romcom it eventually became. "I had been writing all of these ninja scripts and comedies, and I just couldn't get any attention," Lawton, who had previously written "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death," told Vanity Fair. "I suddenly said, 'Well, maybe I need to do something more serious and dramatic.'"
Touchstone liked the gritty original, in which cutthroat businessman Edward and prostitute Vivian do not end up together — though Lawton admits "there was always a debate about the ending." Director Garry Marshall considered several actors for Vivien, including Molly Ringwald, who turned it down, per Cosmopolitan, Winona Ryder, and Connelly. Given Connelly was only 19 when "Pretty Woman" premiered, Marshall felt she was too young. It was only after Julia Roberts and Richard Gere were locked in that the story became the fairy tale we know and love.
Jennifer Connelly made a career playing dark roles
While Jennifer Connelly was taken out of the running for the original role of Vivian in the cynical "$3,000," the screenplay that became "Pretty Woman," she has since gone on to do much darker, more complex roles. In fact, she's made a career of doing gritty movies like "Dark City," "Waking the Dead," "Dark Water," "Blood Diamond," and "Requiem for a Dream," — not to mention her Oscar-winning turn in "A Beautiful Mind" — making her one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood.
"It's probably that I'm really insecure, and I have a dread that I'm really a 'thicky' and as a result, I want to play smart people," Connelly told the Independent. "I like characters that are complex."
Perhaps this idea that she's a "thicky" came from the harsh reviews of her performance in "Labyrinth," but Connelly is actually quite academic. Thinking she probably wouldn't become an actor after those early years, she studied English at Yale University for two years, per Britannica, before transferring to Stanford for drama. "I went back to acting because it's a pretty good job. I didn't enjoy it so much when I was younger and a teenager," she said. It's fortunate for all of us that she gave acting another try.