‘Felicity' actor Scott Speedman reveals his initial worry about Keri Russell's character

New York Post

14-06-2025

Dear Sally, Scott Speedman is spilling the tea.
The 'Felicity' actor, 49, who played Ben Covington on the late '90s drama, revealed he didn't think his on screen love interest Felicity Porter should have been played by Keri Russell at first.
'I remember meeting you at the read-through a couple days later, and I thought clearly you were miscast,' Speedman told Russell, 49, during Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series on Friday. 'I saw you and I thought, [the character] was supposed to be this nerd. And I was like, 'The chick from 'Malibu Shores' is playing Felicity?'… How is that going to work?'
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8 Scott Foley, Keri Russell and Scott Speedman.
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'Felicity' ran for four seasons from 1998 to 2002 on the WB with Russell, Speedman, Scott Foley as Noah Crane, Tangi Miller as Elena Tyler and Greg Grunberg as Sean Blumberg. The series watched as Felicity decided to ditch premed life to follow her high school crush Ben to New York City.
Along with the success of the show, the network also created a slew of other cult-classic teen dramas, including 'Dawson's Creek,' 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'Charmed' and 'One Tree Hill.'
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8 Season 3 of 'Felicity.'
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8 Scott Speedman and Keri Russell.
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Two years prior to 'Felicity,' Russell landed her breakthrough role on NBC's 'Malibu Shores.' The primetime soap aired for one season in 1996 and starred Katie Wright, Randy Spelling, Christian Campbell, and Michelle Phillips.
During their sit down, Russell reflected on the Aaron Spelling drama getting canceled early on, quipping to Speedman: 'That was a f–king good show.'
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And he agreed, stating, 'It was a good show.'
The pair also spoke about on how they landed their respective roles on 'Felicity.'
8 WB Summer TCA Press Tour All-Star Party.
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8 Keri Russell in 'Felicity.'
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'I was living in my mom's apartment, on her couch, in Toronto,' the 'Grey's Anatomy' star recalled. 'I sent a tape down and got a call after a couple of days. They had to figure out how to get me into the country legally. Three days later I was in [the U.S.].'
After touching down in America, Speedman met up with the show's creator. As he put it, 'I had dinner with J.J. Abrams that night.'
''Felicity' was such a sweet little something,' Russell mused. 'It was a really special time. We all grew up together and went through all that stuff.'
8 Keri Russell in the WB drama.
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
'He made me audition,' Russell said of Abrams, 58. 'I think I read five times with a million other girls. He was so good to me in the auditions.'
While talking to Entertainment Weekly for their 2015 Reunions Issue, 'The Diplomat' star got candid on that first audition for 'Felicity.'
'There were so many girls waiting to audition, I was like, 'Can I leave?' I got a couple of callbacks and then had a screen test and choked,' she shared. 'I'm such a bad auditioner… So I left, and J.J. and Matt chased me down and said, 'What happened? You have to come back in — you're too nervous.' I was like, 'Welcome to moi. Welcome to a life of this!''
8 Scott Speedman, Keri Russell, Scott Foley in 'Felicity.'
Courtesy Everett Collection
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'They pulled me into this copy room — because it was the WB I remember there were all these Wayans Bros. posters — and J.J. told me jokes and calmed me down,' Russell reminised. 'I still don't think I did amazing, but they let me have the part.'
Foley, 52, also remembered how the audition went down for him.
'I had done the first season of 'Dawson's Creek' and the casting person knew who I was and called me in to read for the Ben role,' he said. 'Then I read for Noel. They called me back in for Ben and I tested that part two or three times. They cast me as Ben.'
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'I had wardrobe fittings and table readings and everything and then J.J. and Matt said, 'Hey we found someone we think is a great guy to play Ben.' I said, 'I'm Ben!' They asked if I would be interested in playing Noel instead, and I was so happy to have a job I said of course. Speedman showed up with a safety pin holding his shirt together and I said, 'You're right. He's perfect for Ben.''