[
Jahannah James recalls Clarke had talked
her into auditioning for the role.
She had been hesitant.
She was only 23 and fresh out of drama school.
But Clarke persuaded her, explaining that
the naked audition wouldn’t
be filmed; an email from her agent confirmed this agreement.
“I was told 100% it was not going
to be on camera,” James says. As she understood it,
the naked audition was purely to check she
could do the scene and wasn’t going to “bottle it” on the day.
The audition was mortifying, James recalls,
and afterwards she pulled out of the running for the role;
she didn’t want one of her first acting
jobs to be nude.
The Guardian spoke to two friends of
Powell and James who were also present
in the pub that day and recalled
the emotional exchange. “I was so upset,”
James recalls. “Now, years later, I still cry when I talk about it.”
Clarke denies ever covertly filming naked auditions
or sharing such footage with Powell.
A casting director who was present
at James’s audition said there
was “absolutely no way” Clarke would have
covertly filmed it, even without her knowledge.
“He’s always been a good guy,” she said.]
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/...ng-by-20-women