After 35 years, Steel Magnolias fans likely couldn’t imagine anyone but Julia Roberts playing the tragic role of Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie.
Marking the 35th anniversary of the southern comedy drama, Daryl Hannah revealed that director Herbert Ross originally wanted her to play Shelby, and she had to beg to audition for the part of soft-spoken newcomer Annelle Dupuy-DeSoto.
“He was like, ‘No, absolutely not, I don’t see it.’ And I said, ‘Please let me,’” recalled Hannah to People.
She ultimately went to the audition, styling her hair like the hairdresser character and wearing her own glasses. “And he didn’t recognize me. I love that feeling where you really turn into somebody else,” said Hannah.
Based on the 1987 play by Robert Harling, Steel Magnolias follows a group of women who bond through life and death in their small Louisiana town. The character Shelby was based on Robert’s sister Susan, who died in 1985 of complications from type 1 diabetes.
Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, Sally Field and Dylan McDermott in Steel Magnolias (1989). (TriStar/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Roberts’ performance earned the actress her first Oscar nomination and first Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture.
Steel Magnolias was one or Roberts’ first films. “But she was always a very confident girl,” said Hannah. “She was very confident about herself. I remember her asking [costar] Sam Shepard to write her something, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that takes balls.’”
The film also stars Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Tom Skerritt and Dylan McDermott.