Chris Pine Says His 'Bad Acne' Cost Him a Leading Role on The O.C.: 'I Had Awful Skin'

Chris Pine opens up about one very specific reason he lost the lead role OCalmost two decades later.

During an appearance on the May 9 episode of Josh Horowitz Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Wonderful woman the actor, 43, considered casting Ryan Atwood (the role eventually went to Ben McKenzie) alongside Mischa Barton. The main reason casting directors cast him in a teen drama series?

“My bad skin,” Pine said. “…I had terrible skin as a teenager, and then when I graduated from college, my skin started breaking out again.”

By the time the drama premiered on FOX in 2003, Pine was 23 years old. While he said the reasoning behind the casting decision hurts him to this day, he understood what happened — and even joked that he was grateful his career took a different path.

Chris Pine recalls smoking weed and stealing stop signs in LA at 17: ‘I had the whole thing’

“Look, I was dating OC Like a teenage melodrama,” he said. “I can understand that they wanted to have beautiful people doing beautiful things.”

“I don’t want to say I’m thankful I didn’t land, but … it’s a different path,” he said, to host Horowitz’s laugh. “I’m fine… but it’s a little PTSD – it’s not fun to have bad skin. It was one of the most traumatic points in my life, but that’s my story.”

Chris Pine 2004

Jesse Grant/WireImage

Pine also has advice for younger listeners or acne sufferers: “I get you. I hear you. I’ve been there. I know how depressing it can be and the depths of sadness it can drag you to. But there’s a brighter day.”

This is not the first time that the ex OC A cast member spoke about Pine’s audition for the role of Ryan — in the 2023 book. Welcome to OC: Oral History by Alan Sepinwall, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, showrunner Patrick Rush says Pine’s audition was “really good” — but “he was at an age where he had really bad skin issues,” according to E!.

“At the time it seemed insurmountable. And as a kid who grew up with terrible skin, it just broke my heart. But Chris Pine is fine now. He’s fine,” Rush says in the book.

Cast of The OC WB

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Pine has been doing interviews since the release of his directorial debut swimming pool earlier this month. Speaking with Horowitz, he opened up about how he’s coping after the film received a lukewarm reception after it premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September.

“I thought, ‘Maybe I did a bunch of sh—,'” Pine admitted. “I went back and watched it. I freaking love this movie. I love this movie so much.”

Speaking about learning to take on the role behind the camera in an interview with PEOPLE in April, Pine said the process involved his “monthly state of flow.” There was no time to think or think.”

“It ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to double the joy and really double what I love most about my job — which you kind of forget, it’s basically a game.”

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Source: HIS Education