January Jones’s Worst Audition Involves Prince, Jerry Bruckheimer, and ‘Coyote Ugly’

The Hollywood Reporter recently brought together potential Emmy 2012 nominees Claire Danes, Mireille Enos, January Jones, Julianna Margulies, Emmy Rossum, and Kyra Sedgwick to discuss their processes, career inspirations, and worst auditions. For Jones, who plays (Fat) Betty on “Mad Men,” that moment was:

It was an audition for Coyote Ugly, my second audition ever. I’d done the reading for the acting part and then Jerry Bruckheimer wanted me to come in and dance on top of the table…They said, “You’re going to dance to Prince’s ‘Kiss.’ You’re going to pole dance, but there is no pole.” And I just turned beet red. It was awful, and he said something like, “Honey, you did a great reading, but you’ve got no rhythm.” I called my agent and said, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” (Via)

This bears repeating: January Jones was asked by Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of such modern cinema classics as National Treasure and the Coolio vehicle Dangerous Minds, to pole dance without a pole on a table to a (great) Prince song to get a part in Coyote Ugly. That…sounds about right. Lest Jones think she’s special, though, Bruckheimer asked the same of the kangaroo in Kangaroo Jack, and he never had to wear a fat suit.