Paul Danan revealed he narrowly missed out on a major Hollywood film as he opened up about his work in his final interview before his death at the age of 46.
The former Hollyoaks star is believed to have died after he slipped and fell at the ‘dry house’ where he was staying in Bristol in a bid to get clean, and was laid to rest on January 21.
Shortly before his untimely death, Paul spoke to the Outlet Ten Discussions Podcast, where he reflected on his lengthy career.
During the chat, Paul revealed he had been cast in the 2003 smash hit, Cheaper By The Dozen, and had been looking forward to co-starring with the likes of Steve Martin and Hilary Duff.
Yet in a sad twist, the Hollyoaks star was dropped at the last minute, with director Shawn Levy ultimately replacing him with Ashton Kutcher.
Paul Danan revealed he narrowly missed out on a major Hollywood film as he opened up about his career in his final interview before his death at the age of 46 (pictured in 2021)
Paul revealed he had been cast in the 2003 smash hit, Cheaper By The Dozen, but was dropped at the last minute and replaced with Ashton Kutcher (Ashton in the film with Piper Perabo)
Paul recalled: ‘I got this Steve Martin film, called Cheaper by the Dozen – I was going to play the boyfriend of the daughter, they gave me the part, but then the director bumped into Ashton Kutcher!
‘He’d just done Just Married with Brittany Murphy and he [director] said, “oh, I’ve got this English guy, but if you want to do it, Ashton, you can?”
‘And he [Ashton] went, “yeah, man, I’ll do you a favour.” And they [production] phoned me and they said, “Paul we’re really sorry, we know we said that, you know we loved you, but it’s Ashton Kutcher, for f**k’s sake!”‘
Asked by podcast host Anne-Marie if he believed everything happens for a reason, Paul mused: ‘I mean, I don’t know with that one. That was a hard one.
‘I was meant to work with Steve Martin! My mum loved him, I phoned her and said, “guess f**ing what? I’ve done it!” You know?
‘It did get me down and out there there’s a lot of drugs, there’s a lot of partying, and there’s a lot of gym and wellness and fit people and everyone looks amazing, and I just was on my own.
‘I didn’t have anyone and I was so lonely and it was hard man.’
Paul, who trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, played the role of Sol in Hollyoaks between 1997 to 2001. In 1999 he received a Best Actor nomination at the Inside Soap Awards
Paul, who trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, played the role of Sol in Hollyoaks between 1997 to 2001. In 1999 he received a nomination for Best Actor at the Inside Soap Awards.
Paul’s final scenes on Hollyoaks aired in April 2001, when Sol fled the village after falsely accused of trying to kill his girlfriend Jess Holt’s brother Steve.
Speaking about his exit at the time, Paul said he was satisfied with his character’s exit storyline, saying: ‘It was great that they left it open rather than killing him off. Sol didn’t kill anyone, or commit any crime, all he did was protect his girlfriend, so there’s no reason why he can’t return one day.’
Paul originally shared that he was quitting Hollyoaks to avoid being typecast, and shared hopes of pursuing a career in Hollywood.
Whilst living in Los Angeles, Paul told MailOnline how he would often see actors working in McDonald’s while waiting for their next big part, with he himself having taken up a ‘normal job’ to get some extra cash in the interim.
‘I worked in a place called I Smashed It, which is where if you if you drop your iPhone or your phone and the screen smashes, then we’ll fix the screen for you.
‘I was working there for a bit, probably about 10 years ago. And that was just to get a bit of money on the side.’
In 2005, Paul also made headlines with his racy stint on Celebrity Love Island and later admitted that it was time on the reality show that skyrocketed him to new levels of fame.
Paul spoke candidly in the podcast with Outlet 10 founder Anne-Marie (right) whose goal is providing affordable and inclusive mental health education and support
He told The Dozen podcast: ‘I’ve never known fame like it. I’ve never seen people go so mental. Four years on a soap opera – that was nothing compared to these six weeks [in terms] of the stature of fame.’
‘It didn’t help with my acting career because suddenly people were like ”Oh, we don’t want to hire a reality star!” Casting directors were a bit snobby like that, they don’t people want to see me on a TV show thinking ”Isn’t that the guy from Love Island?”
‘It wasn’t good for my acting career and it took a long time to get that back. I don’t know if it’s even fully redeemed even all these years later.’
After meeting on Celebrity Love Island, Paul went onto star in a spin-off series with co-stars Calum Best and Fran Cosgrove, titled Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan.
The star certainly caused a stir with his past reality TV appearances, flipping out from cheerful to furious in a split second.
In 2017, Paul starred on Celebrity Big Brother, appearing on the show with Sam Thompson, Amelia Lily and Sarah Harding.
Before his untimely death, Paul had signed up for a role in a new gritty drama called Bloody Love that’s currently in pre-production.
As per film site IMDb the synopsis reads: ‘The A group of teen friends are devastated when a friend is murdered.
‘1 yr later the case is unsolved. Suspicion falls on each of them. Secrets are revealed and the net falls tighter on the murderer.’
You can listen to the full interview on the Outlet Ten Discussions Podcast.
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