essay for Air Mail recently, noting that Universal Pictures would only pay for the film if Roberts was involved.Zwick then jetted off to London with Roberts so she could do chemistry reads with actors who were in the lead to play loverboy himself, William Shakespeare.The “Erin Brockovich” actress was desperate to star alongside Daniel Day-Lewis in the flick; however, the “My Left Foot” actor had already pledged to shoot 1993’s “In the Name of the Father.”Zwick recollected that Roberts had gushed to him about how “brilliant, handsome and intense” Day-Lewis was at the time. “Don’t you think he’d be perfect? … I can get him to do it,” Roberts reportedly told the producer.The “Mystic Pizza” star even asked her assistant to send two dozen roses to the “There Will Be Blood” star, along with a card that read: “Be my Romeo.”But once Day-Lewis had told Zwick and Roberts’ team that he was fully committed to “In the Name of the Father,” their chemistry read was canceled.Roberts still went through with the casting process, now having been paired with Ralph Fiennes.
