Perspective is indeed a funny thing. While Jimmy Fallon was busy meditating on his viability as an actor after seeing Robert Downey Jr.'s audition for "The Holiday," Kate Winslet was ready to tear the "Tropic Thunder" actor apart. While chatting with Howard Stern, Downey Jr. set the stage, opening up about how he and Fallon were invited to audition alongside Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. "We both got called in just as seat fillers," Downey Jr. explained, saying that they weren't exactly up for the roles.
"[Director Nancy Meyers] needed someone to read with the gals and we're sitting there going, 'It's about to happen for us,'" Downey Jr. said. But it didn't happen for them. Downey Jr. was so confident in his performance that he believed he was on track to replace Jude Law, who romances Diaz's character in "The Holiday." In the film, Law retains his charming British accent, something Downey Jr. tried to replicate in the audition.
Unfortunately, the very American Downey Jr. botched his audition, receiving some lovely criticism from Winslet. "And I was like, 'I've got to have a better English accent than Jude Law at this point.' And Winslet said, 'That was the worst British accent I've ever heard,'" Downey Jr. remembered. The actor continued by saying that writer-director Nancy Meyers told the duo that their auditions were "great" but "not a perfect fit." While it would have been great to have Downey Jr. headline a Meyers rom-com, it's probably for the best, as the actor ended up as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe two years later.
For Fallon, however, Downey Jr.'s "The Holiday" audition was a game changer, turning him into one of the world's most recognizable comedians.
