Former Bond girl and 90s movie legend Denise Richards lost out on a role in a cult classic – but she considers it a ‘blessing.’
Hollywood star Richards, 53, is best known for her roles in Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough where she played Dr Christmas Jones.
But the actor lost out on a role in the 1996 erotic drama Showgirls, directed by Paul Verhoeven.
Richard revealed that she auditioned for the leading role of Nomi Malone, but lost out to Elizabeth Berkley.
‘I auditioned for Showgirls and didn’t get it, which is probably a blessing,’ she said during a panel at New York Comic Con (per People).
But the audition wasn’t a complete waste of time, as Richards said it likely led to her scoring the role of Captain Carmen Ibanez in Starship Troopers.
“I think that’s why he [director Paul Verhoeven] brought me in to audition for Starship. It was right before,’ she continued.
Verhoeven also directed the likes of Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Hollow Man, and RoboCop.
Showgirls – starring Berkley alongside Kyle MacLachlan, and Gina Gershon – tells the story of drifter Nomi Malone who hitchhikes to Las Vegas with ambitions of becoming a showgirl.
Once there, she befriends Molly (Gina Ravera) who works at the glitzy Stardust Hotel, and soon after meets marquee dancer Cristal (Gershon) and her boyfriend Zack (MacLachlan) placing her dreams in arms reach – but at what cost?
The film garnered controversy due to the amount of sex and nudity in the film, but the same outrage also created a significant amount of hype around its release.
Showgirls became the first, and so far only, NC-17 film to be given a wide release in mainstream theatres, but it wasn’t enough to save it as it became a box office bomb, grossing just $37.8 million (£29.7 million) against a $45 million (£34.4 million) budget.
Fallout star Maclachlan famously recalled seeing Showgirls for the first time at its premiere and branded it ‘horrible.’
‘I was absolutely gobsmacked. I said, “This is horrible. Horrible!” And it’s a very slow, sinking feeling when you’re watching the movie, and the first scene comes out, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s a really bad scene.” But you say, “Well, that’s okay, the next one’ll be better”,’ he told AV Club.
‘And you somehow try to convince yourself that it’s going to get better… and it just gets worse. And I was like, “Wow. That was crazy.” I mean, I really didn’t see that coming.’
Following the screening, the star said he distanced himself from the film, but appreciated that it has found fans.
‘Now, of course, it has a whole other life as a sort of inadvertent… satire. No, “satire” isn’t the right word. But it’s inadvertently funny. So it’s found its place.’ he continued.
‘It provides entertainment, though not in the way I think it was originally intended. It was just… maybe the wrong material with the wrong director and the wrong cast.’
However, Showgirls found its audience in the video rental market and generated more than $100 million (£76.7 million) from rentals alone.
It is now considered a cult classic, despite consistently being ranked as one of the worst films ever made.
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