Rosie Huntington-Whiteley reportedly left her job as the host of Project Runway: All Stars shortly before filming began to work on the upcoming movie Mad Max: Fury Road in Namibia. The move is said to have sent the show's producers on a last-minute hunt for a replacement.
Huntington-Whiteley would have replaced Angela Lindvall, who left the host's chair after one season without explanation. Now Carolyn Murphy, whose last television appearance was a segment of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in 2005, has been selected for the hosting job — but that didn't happen before The Weinstein Company hastily auditioned her, Karolina Kurkova, Hilary Rhoda, Elaine Irwin, and Rachel Roy for the position.
A friend of Huntington-Whiteley's insists she was "never fully committed to the project and there was no signed contract." The model may not be the host of the show, but it is believed that she will come back as a guest judge. Nevertheless, another source claims her departure caused a big fuss.
"Literally days before filming, the show suddenly had no host," a source said. "Rosie had been pushing really hard for the job. She'd charmed everyone. But then with less than three weeks to go, Rosie pulled out to do Mad Max, creating a huge drama. It put the production in a terrible position, and the Weinstein Co. even threatened to sue Rosie."
Filming on Project Runway: All Stars began early last month and features Georgina Chapman and Isaac Mizrahi as judges. Marie Claire editor in chief Joanna Coles will mentor the designers on the show, and so far guest judges have included Katie Holmes and Kylie Minogue.
Huntington-Whiteley will star in Mad Max: Fury Road alongside fellow model Abbey Lee Kershaw, Charlize Theron, and Zoe Kravitz. Last year she starred in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Murphy had a small role in the 1999 film Liberty Heights.
