Apparently Woody Allen was refused both Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. for his 2002 film Melinda and Melinda because he couldn't get the necessary insurance for the film stars.

It's something that you could perhaps find hard to believe for Robert Downey Jr. right now, but perhaps Winona Ryder. Well, actually not even then, when so many poor decisions are made on films, you'd think a great Director choosing strong but troubled actors would be the least of the insurance companies concerns.

Seems not though. With Ryder having just been convicted of shoplifting and Downey recovering from his addictions, Allen chose Will Ferrell and Radha Mitchell instead.

In his book Conversations With Woody Allen (Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk) through WENN and Starpulse News Blog he says:

“I couldn't get insurance on them... We couldn't get bonded. The completion bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them.”

Even with Woody Allen behind them I find that hard to take, and I'm sure both stars did, if they knew about it. I think that if I was in the acting profession and something like that happened it would be a huge slap in the face and kick in the backside to get myself back on track.