These
Celebs
Were
in
the
Running
to
Play
Young
Lily
Van
der
Woodsen

Gossip
Girl
casting
director

David
Rapaport
dished
to
Jessica
about
the

Gossip
Girl
spinoff
centered
on
Serena’s
mom,
Lily
van
der
Woodsen
(Kelly
Rutherford),
with
a
pilot
that
starred


Brittany
Snow
and


Krysten
Ritter.

“I
remember
for
that


Dakota
Johnson
came
in
and


Rooney
Mara,
and
a
lot
of
other
women
who
are
now
kind
of
big
names
but
at
the
time
didn’t
have
that
kind
of
stature,”
he
recalled
on XOXO. “And
you
know
who
did
the
best
read
for
that?
I’ll
tell
you,
because
I
think
you’re
friends
with


Nina
Dobrev,
that
was
one
of
the
best
auditions
I
had
ever
seen,
and
for
that
role
specifically.”

David
said
he
called
the
network
and
told
them, “She
is
a
super
star.”

The
issue,
however,
as
he
recalled
on
the
podcast
was
that “she
does
not
look
like
Kelly
Rutherford,
because
she
was
supposed
to
be
a
young
Kelly
Rutherford.” 

Still,
she
stressed
to
the
network
that
they
needed
to
keep
the


Degrassi:
The
Next
Generation
star
on
their
radar, “‘and
you
guys
need
to
find
something
for
her,'”
he
recalled. “I
just
remember
thinking, ‘I
am
going
to
think
about
this
girl
in
a
couple
of
years
and
be
like, ‘Oh
god,
I
missed
that
opportunity.’
She
was
so
incredible!”