Jesse Metcalfe was looking forward to sinking his teeth into The Vampire Diaries, but the universe had other plans — and the actor was less than pleased.
“I think [I auditioned] at the very beginning of the show,” Metcalfe, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly while attending Ticket2Event’s 12th Annual Luxury Luncheon Hosted by Jill Zarin on Saturday, July 26. “I think Ian Somerhalder was in the room. [They told me] I had too nice of a face to be a vampire. I was really upset about that, too.”
The Vampire Diaries ran on The CW from 2009 to 2017 and starred Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert, a teenage girl who meets — and falls in love with — brother vampires Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Somerhalder), following the death of her parents. The series was based on the 1990s novels by L.J. Smith.
Metcalfe first revealed earlier this month that he was passed over for the show.
“I’ll never forget, a really high-up executive at CW was like, ‘You could never play a vampire because you have too nice of a face,’” he recalled on a July episode of Tori Spelling’s “misSPELLING” podcast. “That’s what she said to me. She said, ‘You look like too nice of a guy to play a vampire.’”
Decades later, Metcalfe still disagrees with the unnamed executive’s analysis. “I’m not really that nice,” he told Spelling. “I got a lot of edge!”
The Hallmark star added that he’s used to being a polarizing person, noting he “got a lot of criticism growing up for the way I looked. A lot of hate. And I think that resurfaced again once I got into Hollywood and broke as an actor.”
The expansion of internet culture in the “Y2K era,” he explained, was particularly “brutal” for him. “I dealt with a lot of scrutiny, a lot of criticism. Just picking apart my appearance,” he said.
The actor added, “I’ve had a lot of people say that I’m difficult to work with. … And honestly, I feel like a lot of people that maybe just didn’t like me tried to hurt my career, you know? Or smear me. Or character assassinate me.”
Despite his ups and downs in the industry, one major role he did land was that of the titular character in 2009’s John Tucker Must Die. The cult classic comedy — which also stars Sophia Bush, Ashanti and Brittany Snow as three girls out for revenge after they realize they’re all dating the same guy — was recently rumored to be the next in line to receive the sequel treatment.
Metcalfe said that while “most of the cast has said they’d be willing” to reprise their roles for the sequel, he’s not sure the movie will actually get the green light. Still, there is a script — and Metcalfe is impressed at what he’s read.
“It’s pretty good,” Metcalfe teased to Us. “There’s a story line for my character that I think is interesting and ironic. [John] is the girl’s basketball coach at the high school and he’s got a daughter who’s basically being John Tuckered, you know? It’s a pretty obvious choice.”
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