Noah Centineo Originally Auditioned For This Character in 'Sierra Burgess Is A Loser'

After watching Sierra Burgess is a Loser, there’s no one but Noah Centineo that could’ve played him in our minds…however, he didn’t originally go out for that role in the film.

Speaking to ET, the creatives of the movie – director Ian Samuels, screenwriter Lindsey Beer, and casting director Tamara-Lee Notcutt – talked about Noah‘s overnight rise to fame.

“We were having a really hard time finding Jamey,” Ian shared. “When you’re casting, you have a character description and a lot of the Jameys that were coming in just felt…I don’t know, there was maybe something too on the nose about what we were seeing, in terms of the jock-y football player.”

He adds, “But we really wanted Jamey to really be likable. You have to fall in love with him to believe in this relationship. Our casting director, Tamara, did an amazing job and she had Noah come in for one of the supporting roles and he was so charming in the room.”

Lindsey added that Noah “[originally] came in for Spence”. Spence is played by Will Peltz in the flick.

“I watched all the auditions. Every single one. With Jamey, we were looking for somebody who could play a more soulful type and somebody with the puppy dog eyes who the girls would like, but who kind of had a unique sincerity to him and Noah absolutely did. It was kind of crazy, honestly.”

Lindsey continued, “I didn’t have a specific actor in mind when I wrote this and I wrote it a long time ago, over six years ago, but I did have a generic image in mind of Jamey and Noah just looked and embodied him to a T, it almost weirded me out.”

Tamara also opened up about casting Noah not only as Jamey, but Peter Kavinsky in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before too.

“He was so charismatic. He’s very charming. He’s got a great look,” she says. “He’s really tall and I already knew that I wanted to cast Shannon [Purser]. She’s a very tall girl. He matched her in height and everything, and not very many actors — especially that age — are that tall.”

“Even though he was confident, there was something very goofy and awkward as well,’ Tamara added. “He’s grown up a lot in the last two years, it’s been quite amazing to watch. He’s just super adorable, very charming and fun. He felt like a real teenager.”

Sierra Burgess is a Loser is streaming now on Netflix.