‘Modern Family’ Fans React To Judy Greer Refusing To Play Claire Dunphy: “Julie Bowen Owned The Hell Out Of That Role”
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was released to critical acclaim mainly because of Judy Greer’s performance as Grace. While her outstanding performance as a mother figure is the film’s shining light, Greer recently revealed that she turned down a chance to play a similar role as Claire in the hit sitcom Modern Family because she didn’t want to be known as ‘America’s mum.’ As expected, her comments have stirred interesting reactions from the sitcom’s vast fan base.
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Modern Family remains one of the best sitcoms ever created, having joined the top 10 highest-grossing TV series at the peak of its 250-episode run in 2012. The show follows the drama around three families, related through the wealthy businessman Jay Pritchett, living in urban LA. The show revolves around the Pritchett’s daughter and the Dunphy family matriarch, Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen). Claire is a stay-at-home mom of three who later returns to work in the family business, eventually becoming the CEO.
While speaking on former Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Fergusson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast, Greer revealed why she turned down the chance to play the lucrative lead role. “I think I was asked to audition for Claire. This was a time in my career when I was like starting to, like, just maybe once in a while, having a kid (in a movie),” she said. Greer, who was in her mid-30s then, made guest appearances in other sitcoms, including Mom and The Big Bang Theory. However, Greer hadn’t had any prominent lead roles in a TV series then, so Claire would have been her career-defining step.
The 13 Going 30 star raised eyebrows when she said she passed on the role because she feared it would permanently paint her as a mother figure, something she didn’t want at that point in her career. “It sounds so silly to say it out loud now, but I’ll be honest. In a movie, I would have a kid. And then there was this opportunity to audition where I would have three kids, like one of them in high school, and on a TV show. That in success, and you do have to think of these things in success, and obviously Modern Family was a huge success. In a movie, people kind of see it, and then they forget. In a TV show, it’s just like, you’re a mom, like that’s it,” she explained.
Greer, 49, who has no biological children, said she had no plans of having children in real life at the time either. “I didn’t even want kids. That was not even on the table for me. And so I was like, ‘I think I’m not gonna audition for it.’ I was really torn about it, but I ended up not. Who knows if I would have even gotten it anyway, but I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be America’s mom yet,'” she said.
Her comments have since evoked mixed reactions from MF fans, with some fans deeming her reasoning hypocritical. “She is Ant-Man’s ex-wife and Cassie’s mom in two Marvel movies and the mom on Jurassic World,” one Redditor cited other instances where Greer has played mom. “She wants to be Amerika’s craziest assitant,” another Reddit user said, relating to most of Greer’s career being built on assisting roles. Her role as the mom in the reboot of the Halloween trilogy was also cited as another instance where she could as well be America’s Mom.
Some fans also pointed out that she picked up voicing the role of Cheryl Tunt in Archer in the same year that Modern Family debuted. “She was probably looking forward to Archer and getting paid to cuss and talk filthy and have fun as a voice actor just like she said she didn’t want to be America’s Mom,” a Redditor said.
Her voice role in Archer earned her multiple award nominations, although she didn’t win any of them.
Most fans praised Greer as a great actress but saw her as a mismatch for the role of Claire. “While I like Judy Greer, Julie Bowen owned the hell out of that role, and I wouldn’t want it another way,” one Reddit user wrote in the thread. “Judy Greer is great in everything I’ve seen her in, but I can’t imagine anyone else besides Julie Bowen; the casting was perfect,” another one said.
Other fans had dissenting opinions, though, suggesting that Greer would have made the perfect match for Claire. “…I agree that she’s perfect as Claire. Judy might have felt a little too chaotic & similar to Phil, whereas Julie has the neuroticism that’s echoed in her dad & brother,” one user said. Additionally, Greer said the role was too limiting to her lifestyle at the time. Greer said that to play the role, she would have had to stay in LA most of the time.
However, she wasn’t guaranteed to land the role because it was only an audition. The role eventually landed on Julie Bowen, whose performance was equally great. Bowen won two Emmys for Claire and has been heavily linked to the show’s success. The role was also well-paying, as Bowen is believed to have earned $500,000 per episode by the 11th season. Greer later made a cameo on Modern Family as Phil’s ex, Denise, but that role wasn’t as impactful.
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