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Bethany Joy Lenz reflects on the time she landed One Tree Hill and the warning she received the night before her screen test.
In her new memoir, Dinner for Vampires, Lenz recalls initially passing on the opportunity to star in the drama. At the same time, she passed on starring in What I Like About You, opposite Amanda Bynes, as she didn’t want to “normalize living in sin” by playing a character who lives with her boyfriend. The role eventually went to Jennie Garth in the WB sitcom.
Lenz, who was raised as an evangelical Christian, then got a call from her manager relaying a message from an executive the night before she was going to screen test for One Tree Hill.
“I have a direct quote that I’ve been asked to relay to you, to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into before you sign this contract,” Lenz said, according to EW.
Lenz’s manager then quoted the TV executive saying, “You tell her this show is about f***ing and sucking and if she’s gonna have a problem with that, she shouldn’t come in tomorrow.”
The actress later on said, “Just tell him I understand what he’s saying. I’m not gonna try and stop them from writing about real teenagers. I believe in this show and I want to be a part of it.”
Lenz noted that she felt One Tree Hill was “different from most bubble-gum TV with subliminal agendas” and she didn’t want to limit her career to acting on faith-based projects.
“Grit didn’t scare me, and the One Tree Hill pilot had grit,” she added.
Lenz also wrote in her memoir, “I didn’t feel too at risk of being objectified. I believed in this show and its ability to send meaningful, uplifting messages to the audience.”
One Tree Hill premiered in 2003 on The WB before moving on to The CW in 2006 following the merger of The WB and UPN. The show ran for a total of nine seasons, and as the show progressed, the “f***ing and sucking” premise of the show would play a part when Lenz tried to push back on some of the storylines.
“When I stood my ground as a matter of religious modesty, my manager would get a call, ‘She’s being difficult again. We told you what this show was about,’” Lenz says in her memoir. “And, in fairness, they did. The ‘f***ing and sucking’ executive has been very clear about that. I guess I just looked at my character and figured that would be other people’s storylines.”
