Actor Jason Alexander said he was absolutely hated by people after he starred in the hit flick Pretty Woman, and was even punched over it. Photo / Supplied
Actor Jason Alexander said he was absolutely hated by people after he starred in the hit flick Pretty Woman, and was even punched over it. Photo / Supplied
Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander starred in the iconic flick Pretty Woman alongside Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, but it isn't all happy memories for him.
The actor opened up to Robin Bronk during the At Home With The Creative Coalition podcast, with the 61-year-old revealing that his role as lawyer Phillip Stuckey in the 1990 film wasn't the best experience for him.
"It was a unique situation because when I got [Pretty Woman], I fully understood that the director did not want me," Jason admits. "I was not what Garry Marshall wanted."
'I was known around the world as the a**hole who tried to rape Julia Roberts so women hated me. Photo / Supplied
He continued, "I had auditioned for him, he was very sweet. He basically said, 'you're too young. You're too baby-faced. You're too little.' There were other people he tried to get and I don't know why but they couldn't make a deal … I got the part because they couldn't make a deal with the actor they wanted and they were desperate."
In fact, Alexander recalls the part making him one of the most hated actors at the time.
"I was known around the world as the a**hole who tried to rape Julia Roberts so women hated me," he says. "I would walk down the street and women would say mean things to me."
Jason Alexander says his role in Pretty Woman made him 'hated'. Photo / Supplied
He even admitted that he "got punched many times. I got spit on by one woman. It was a rough year."
The actor is best known for his role as George Costanza in the sitcom Seinfeld.
While it is one of the most successful shows on television, the actor actually admitted to nearly walking out on it, when he threatened co-creator Larry David that he would quit.
"Very early on Larry wrote an episode where Elaine and Jerry go to Florida and Kramer and George are not in that episode," Alexander said to Access Hollywood.
"And when Seinfeld started I had a very successful career in the theatre in New York which is what I thought I was going to be doing all my life."
"So when I was written out of an episode I came back the next week and I said to Larry, 'Look, I get it. But if you do that again, do it permanently. If you don't need me to be here every week … I'd just as soon go back home and do what I was doing'."
Luckily, Larry David took the feedback on board.
"He freaked out," Alexander said of David's reaction. "And then he did it and thank god he didn't say, 'take a hike'".
Seinfeld is now considered one of the greatest TV shows in history, but Alexander admitted it wasn't until an episode in season four that the actors knew they were onto a good thing.
"The Contest [an episode where the four main characters bet to see who can go the longest without pleasuring themselves] … I think that was the marker where we went, 'I think we have some job security for a while'", he said.
