Far away from the wheelings and dealings of Hollywood showbiz, the factors that go into a certain actor getting a certain role can feel more than a bit opaque. Is it all about whom you know? Can a talented underdog really win it in the room? Or is it just about whoever is lucky enough to be the guy after the guy who sucks so hard that the star and director consider giving up film as a medium? The latter theory got some traction on Wednesday’s The Late Late Show, where we saw how Patrick Dempsey got cast in Bridget Jones’s Baby. It’s because James Corden stunk. He stunk as Bert from Mary Poppins, he stunk as Sherlock Holmes, he stunk as the freakin’ Queen of England … and then in walked Dempsey. If only Corden had channeled Bruce Willis and had also been able to audition for the part of the baby, well, then we’d be getting somewhere.
