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Jack Black thought Miranda Cosgrove wasn't right for School Of Rock role at first

29 September 2023, 17:15

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By Katie Louise Smith

"When I first met her, I was like, 'Are you sure she should be the manager?'"

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Can you believe that School of Rock is turning 20 years old?! The iconic movie starring Jack Black has become an absolute phenomenon since its 2003 release. It's spawned a massively successful stage musical, saw Jack himself gain a whole new legion of young fans and launched Miranda Cosgrove's career.

After watching the film over and over and over again, there's absolutely no denying that Miranda was absolutely perfect for the role of Summer, the small-yet-mighty, ambitious class rep who ends up becoming the band's manager.

Miranda was just 10 years old when the film was released, and School of Rock was her first major on-screen role. However, if it hadn't been for director Richard Linklater, it could have all been very different.

Jack Black thouhgt Miranda Cosgrove was too "shy" to play Summer in School of Rock at first. Picture: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic, Paramount Pictures

Speaking to Rolling Stone in honour of the beloved film's 20th anniversary, Jack Black confessed that he initially didn't think Miranda was quite right for the role of Summer.

"When I first met her, I was like, 'Are you sure she should be the manager? She seems a little shy'," Jack said. "Linklater was like, 'Nah. She’s got something that’s very special.' He called it."

The profile also revealed that Summer was completely different in the original script. Instead of the head-strong, business oriented student that Miranda brought to the screen, Summer was meant to be an aspiring singer with blonde hair.

The fact that director Richard Linklater decided to go in a different direction with the character is a testament to then-10-year-old Miranda's talents.

School of Rock was Miranda Cosgrove's first on-screen role. Picture: Alamy

In November 2022, Miranda detailed what happened in her audition for School of Rock, and how 'Summer' ended up being moulded around her.

"I went in for my first [School of Rock] audition, and I sang, and then for some reason, they were like, "We love how you did the lines, but maybe your character should be a really bad singer,'" she told BuzzFeed UK. "So then they changed up Summer, and I had to be this terrible singer — maybe that's a knock to my singing!"

She also had to have a 'bad singing lesson' in order to make Summer sound like a bad singer in the film: "It was the dead opposite of what I was used to. We sang the song 'Memory' back and forth to each other for, like, an hour just trying to see who could do it worse, it was so fun and freeing!"