Ashton Kutcher reveals why he was fired from 'Elizabethtown'

Ashton Kutcher has recalled how was fired from the 2005 Cameron Crowe comedy drama movie Elizabethtown.

Kutcher began filming the movie, about a troubled designer dealing with his father's death who meets a plucky and optimistic flight attendant along the way and falls in love.

The flight attendant was played by Kirsten Dunst, but early on in production, director Crowe decided that there was not the chemistry he was hoping for.

In fact the Almost Famous helmsman had originally wanted Orlando Bloom for the role, but found him unvailable – he was making crusades flop Kingdom of Heaven with Ridley Scott at the time.

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Speaking to Sean Evans on the Hot Ones web series, he recalled (via Eonline): “Yeah, I’ll say fired, sure. [Crowe] originally wanted Orlando Bloom for Elizabethtown and Orlando Bloom was working on a Ridley Scott picture, and wasn’t available.

“So I went [to] audition, he cast me and then we started working on it. I think he wanted to see the character rehearsals all the way, and I probably wasn’t disciplined enough as an actor to get myself to a point where I was able to do that and show it to him in a way that he felt comfortable.

“At a certain point we just kind of agreed that it wasn’t working out. More him than me. But also, I found out at the same time that Orlando Bloom had just become available right when he was gonna let me go.”

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As it turns out, Ashton was probably best off out of it.

Elizabethtown, which also starred Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Biel, was largely panned by critics.

Though it did spawn the phrase 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl', used to describe Dunst's character by critic Nathan Rabin on The A.V. Club, which would go on to be used variously – usually derogatorily – ever since.

The movie was also a tremendous flop too, making only $52 million at the box office.