I know Rose McGowan had a little work done (who hasn't??!) - but unrecognizable? That's what the studio execs responsible for casting the upcoming movie, Speed Racer thought. Instead Christina Ricci landed the role.

The studio felt like she was hard to recognize and worried that by the time the movie hit theaters, fans might not know who she was," says our insider. A rep for the actress said "she was not pursuing this role."

In other news, Zac Efron was supposed to play the male lead but he just couldn't connect romantically with the lead female during the auditions. Awww...

Efron, meanwhile, may be taking over the world with the "High School Musical" franchise, but his youth worked against him for the part of Speed. "During his auditions, Zac never connected to the romantic lead in the reading," says our source. "By the second round, the casting crew didn't feel he was believable as a leading man/hero."