Hollywood Reporter – ‘The O.C.’ Oral History Book Revelations: Sebastian Stan’s Audition (and Other Casting Surprises), an Edited Kiss and That George Lucas Cameo
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Sebastian Stan Was the Casting That Got Away
The oral history is full of casting tidbits, including an extensive rundown of how the core four were selected alongside guest and recurring characters like Chris Pratt and Olivia Wilde, the actors who didn’t get roles (including Chris Pine, who lost out over his acne) and even the show’s decision to recast certain characters. That includes Marissa’s (Barton) little sister Kaitlin — who went from Shailene Woodley to Willa Holland — and Ryan’s (McKenzie) brother Trey, who was originally portrayed by Bradley Stryker before Logan Marshall-Green was hired to play out a more extensive storyline.
But in one of the most interesting tidbits, the showrunners and casting head Patrick Rush reveal that actor Sebastian Stan — who would go on to appear in Schwartz and Savage’s sophomore hit Gossip Girl before becoming a screen staple of the MCU — was actually up for one of the show’s most controversial characters: Johnny — the public school version of Ryan in season three that Marissa meets after being kicked out of Harbor School. Sepinwall reveals that, in a group chat, Schwartz and Savage admitted to having zero memory of Stan’s audition, with Savage texting, “wtf is wrong with us?” after jogging their memory. “I had seen Sebastian Stan audition from New York for some role, and they weren’t testing him. And I sent it to Josh and Stephanie, like, ‘This kid’s really good.’ And they flew him out to test, and still didn’t hire him,” Rush recalls.
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Schwartz told Sepinwall, “I said to Patrick Rush, ‘This is the worst thing to come out of this book. I hate us.’ He goes, ‘You can just tell him not to put it in the book.’ And I said, ‘No, the shame must be publicly shared. We cannot hold this inside.’”
