Direct From Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest: Why JJ Abrams Cast Keri Russell on Felicity Even Though He Thought She Wasn’t a Good Fit

JJ Abrams admitted he cast Ceri Russell as Felicity...on the iconic 90s show...even though she was a bad fit for the role. Why?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Direct from Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Anybody who's a fan of the nineteen nineties TV show
Felicity will instantly visualize its lead star, Carry Russell when
they think about the series, with her million watt smile
and the trademark golden curls she wore at the time.
It's but it simply Carrie is Felicity, and there's no
separating the character from the star. But jja Abrams created
this show just revealed to Variety when they were developing
the story, the Felicity they had in their minds couldn't

(00:24):
have been further from Carrie. He says. The character that
I wrote was the wallflower who had never had a boyfriend,
who sheepishly approached a boy to ask to sign her yearbook.
That's not Carrie Russell. Carey walked into the audition and
she was beautiful, the hair, the smile, of the eyes.
Not someone who fits the job description. But she was
genuine and funny and whenever she would get emotional, literally
I would cry. So she got the part despite not
matching our vision, because she was so funny and so truthful.

(00:46):
JJ Abram's there and the casting of Carry Russell on Felicity,
which launched her career. Season two of her current show,
The Diplomat is on Netflix.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's direct from Hollywood.