Sam Rockwell spills the tea on losing a role to Michael Imperioli

Sam Rockwell revealed rare information about his early days in Hollywood, including auditioning for movies that he didn’t get.

The 56-year-old actor shared that once he was driving to New Jersey with other aspiring actors together for an audition, “Michael Imperioli and I — and Kevin Corrigan — drove in a van to New Jersey to audition for one line in Lean on Me.”

The White Lotus star shared that even though he got the part, he technically didn’t get it, in conversation on a new episode of Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz.

Rockwell recalled, “And I got it, and then they never got to my scene [during the shoot day], so they had to let me go because they didn't want to pay me for a week … they either have to pay you for a day player or a week. So they let me go … because they were like, ‘Eh, we can’t pay him for a week for one line.’ And they hired Michael [...] Michael’s in the movie. And I still get residual checks for that even though I’m not in it.”

The film marked Imperioli’s debut, however Rockwell appeared in the independent movie Clownhouse the same year.