Stephen Baldwin claimed he was “castrated comedically” before being let go from the Jennifer Aniston-led rom-com “The Object of My Affection.”
The actor, who was originally cast as Aniston’s boyfriend Vince McBride in the 20th Century Studios film, before being replaced by John Pankow, recalled his exit from the rom-com during a recent episode of his “One Bad Movie” podcast.
“I was doing a movie with Jenny Aniston back in the day … It was when I was really young, coming up. I had been doing a few things. Before ‘Usual Suspects’ and all that bulls–t,” Baldwin told his guest T.J. Miller. “‘The Object of My Affection.’ I went in and I auditioned to play like the sidekick, kind of almost boyfriend of Jennifer Aniston.”
He continued: “And I’ve never told this story before. So, I get there and I’m me and Jennifer’s cute and whatever and I got a girl and I’m good. So, I’m just there to be me. But after like, I think it was the second day of shooting, after lunch, this producer comes to my trailer and goes, ‘There’s a problem.’ I go, ‘What’s up?’ He goes, ‘You can’t be funnier than Jennifer.’”
Per Baldwin, he was surprised by the feedback and even pushed back on the directive.
“I go, ‘Is this a joke?’” he remembered saying at the time. “It’s comedy movie. Like, I don’t know. Am I about to get punk’d? Like, what do you even mean by that?”
After Miller defended Aniston as “really funny,” having co-starred with the “Friends” actress in 2016’s “Office Christmas Party,” Baldwin explained he wasn’t sharing this tidbit to “shred anybody.”
“This is just to simply say Hollywood’s Hollywood,” Baldwin continued. “This happened to me on [‘Casualties of War’]. I got fired … Same thing. I’ve created a character and they went, ‘It’s not working. Here’s your money. Go home.’”
While Baldwin noted this was a “similar” experience, he noted that being told “there’s a problem” and to “just say the words” threw him for a loop.
“‘And I’m now like, you’ve just mauled my face like a f–king wolverine,” he said. “And I’m going, ‘You’re asking me to like, just numb myself.’”
“So I go back to the set after lunch, right? Castrated comedically, right?” Baldwin went on. “I was wondering was it really about my good looks? Was I fat? Well, you know, I was freaking out. So, I get back in there and I try not to be me.”
Yet, as Baldwin remembered it, he struggled to understand the feedback and was ultimately let go.
“They let me go. They told me I could go home,” he said. “And that was all cool, but that’s just awkward.”
Watch Baldwin and Miller’s conversation above. A representative for Aniston did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
