Rebecca Hall Hounded Stephen Frears For Audition


British actress Rebecca Hall hounded director Stephen Frears for the role of a tenacious stripper in Lay Of The Favourite, after learning he had his mind set on an American to play the part.

The Prestige star fell in love with the tale of Beth Raymer, an exotic dancer who became a professional sports gambler, and met Frears to discuss the role - but he rejected her because she wasn't American.

Hall, however, refused to give up - and pestered the auteur for another audition when they were both in New York.

She tells Britain's Telegraph Magazine, "When I went to meet Stephen, he said..., 'Well, it's very nice to meet you - but you're everything that I'm not looking for, for this role, and I will never cast you.'

"Literally, for six months he wouldn't let me read. He kept saying, 'Americans only...'"

But Hall won him over by dressing like a hooker when Frears finally agreed to see her again: "I did all the things that I've never really done before; I wore the tightest jeans I could find and stuffed my bra with socks and curled my hair. Stephen was even worse than before. He said, 'So here I am against my will. I know you're wrong for this, so let's get it over with.'"

But, despite his reservations, Frears was wowed by Hall's audition - and quickly admitted he was wrong.

The director adds, "She was absolutely tremendous. She was so convincing and outrageous and extraordinary. So I lost and I won."