Catherine O’Hara has revealed that she was once told that she was “pretty enough” that “anybody can have you” by a director.
The Canadian-American actor shot to fame in the Eighties and Nineties starring in films such as Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Waiting for Guffman, often playing comedic roles.
Asked if there was ever hope that she could follow in the footsteps of her peers such as Meg Ryan and play a romantic lead, O’Hara told The Sunday Times that “if somebody was thinking of me that way, they didn’t tell me”.
The Schitt’s Creek star then recalled having lunch with an unnamed writer-director from New York about a potential leading role in a romantic comedy.
“He said to me: ‘You’re great! I’m looking for your kind of woman. You know – somebody who’s pretty enough, but anybody can have you.’”
In reply, O’Hara told the director: “‘Why, thank you so much!’
“I mean, I didn’t get mad or anything,” she continued. “That was just kind of, ‘Oh! Oh… OK.’ Either I wasn’t pretty enough, or he knew nobody could have me. I didn’t get the role.”
Last year, O’Hara won at the Golden Globe, SAG, Critics Choice and Emmy awards for her performance as matriarch Moira Rose in the final series of Schitt’s Creek.
In an interview with The Independent, O’Hara said that she loved how confident “in a delusional way” she felt when playing Moira.
“I miss having that kind of nerve and creativity with how I present myself,” she said. “I miss the opportunity to use arcane words in my conversations... Maybe I should just stay in character.”
