Chris Pine lost role in ‘The OC’ due to ‘traumatic’ acne battle

Everyone goes through a rough phase, even if megawatt movie stars like it Chris Pine.

Pine, 43, was immediately thrust back into one of the toughest and most uncomfortable times of his life during the Thursday, May 9, episode of the “Happy sad confused“podcast. Host Josh Horowitz asked the Poolman actor to open up about his bombed audition for Fox’s The OCwhich aired from 2003 to 2007. Although Pine would prove he has leading man chops, his acting wasn’t the reason he was eliminated from the casting – it was his “terrible skin.”

“I went out The OC, a teen melodrama. I can understand that they wanted beautiful people to do beautiful things,” he said, looking back. “It’s no fun to play a role if you have bad skin. It was one of the most traumatic moments of my life.”

In Welcome to the OC: Oral Historyreleased last fall, casting director Patrick Rush revealed that Pine’s acne was the reason he didn’t score the role of Ryan Atwood Benjamin McKenzie.

“I hate to say this, but it’s the truth: Chris Pine was at the age where he started having serious skin problems. And at that point it seemed insurmountable,” Rush said in the book. “And as a kid growing up with terrible skin, it just broke my heart.”

On Thursday’s podcast, Horowitz said it might have been a blessing not to have a role on the Fox soap given the way his career was going.

‘I don’t want to say I’m grateful that I didn’t land The OCbut…” Pine agreed.

Pine also took some time to raise awareness that acne can be more than just a passing time in a young person’s life.

“Acne is considered this; it’s just what you experience as a teenager,” he said. “It can also be extremely disabling and even very emotionally disabling.”

Pine went on to say that he hopes people dealing with persistent, long-term skin problems know that things will get better eventually.

“Anyone experiencing this, I understand you. I hear you. I have been there. I know. I know how depressing it can be and the kind of depths of sadness it can drag you to, but there is a better day,” he said.

Pine’s career is proof of that. Shortly after The OC first aired, Pine’s career was jump-started with a role in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The 2004 film offered him $65,000 to play a leading role Anne Hathaway‘s potential suitors, an amount that he said at the time was “earth-shattering.”

Since then, Pine has taken on two of the most iconic characters from all over nerdom, appearing in three roles as Captain Kirk Star Trek movies and Wonder Woman love interest Steve Trevor. His attitude toward everything from negative reviews to his own outfits proves that he has learned to let incidents like a bad casting call roll off his back.