After Kessell described having an amazing audition but not getting a call for M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth,” Eaton described his own “devastation.”
“I was ready for the ‘Star Wars’ role that Daisy Ridley ended up doing,” she recounted. “It was an intense scene, but I didn’t understand it and I was really frustrated with myself. It was a test with the wardrobe director and JJ Abrams, so essentially I ended up so nervous that I had a panic attack and ruined my audition.”
Rey’s first appearance was in 2015’s “The Force Awakens,” which means the auditions must have happened in 2014, if not 2013. That would have made Eaton between 17 and 18, and at the time he was only a screen. credit to his name. Yet he was strong: Cheedo the Fragile, one of Immortan Joe’s enslaved wives in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Eaton made a strong impression despite having few to no lines in the film, but you can only imagine the immense pressure the young actress felt to audition for what would be a life-changing role for her.
When Eaton’s agent asked for a review, she told them bluntly, “I had a panic attack in front of JJ Abrams. Maybe it worked for the scene, maybe it didn’t.” It was an experience that “will be forever.” haunt” Eaton, but it’s even more haunting to consider what “Yellowjackets” would be like without his commanding, ethereal performance at its core. We never wish for the actors we love to fail. But just this once, Eaton’s famous flop might have been what better.
