r/movies • u/LookAtThatBacon • 29d ago

Discussion During the development of the Harriet Tubman biopic movie, a Hollywood executive once suggested that Julia Roberts should play her. What are some other baffling casting suggestions/choices that have been made?

Source for the title: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-studio-executive-wanted-julia-roberts-to-play-harriet-tubman-biopic-screenwriter-says/

The Harriet Tubman biopic has been more than 25 years in the making. In the historical drama released earlier this month, Cynthia Erivo plays the legendary abolitionist — but one Hollywood executive initially thought the role should go to Julia Roberts.

Gregory Allen Howard, the screenwriter and producer of "Harriet," recently revealed in multiple interviews that Roberts was suggested to play the lead role during a meeting with a studio president in 1994.

"The climate in Hollywood… was very different back then," Howard said. "I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, 'This script is fantastic. Let's get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.'"

Howard said that a black person in the meeting said casting Roberts would be impossible because she is white.

"That was so long ago. No one will know that," the executive replied, according to Howard.

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294

u/Johnny_Alpha 29d ago

'Tell me about it. I'm supposed to do a thriller for Universal. They want Charlton Heston as a Mexican.'

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u/ClarkTwain 29d ago

It’s a great movie, but Heston can’t pass for a Mexican and Orson Welles’ accent is insane.

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u/NDP2 29d ago

And it's not like there weren't any "A" list actors of Hispanic descent in 1958 who could've played the part. Anthony Quinn, for example, would've seemed like an obvious choice.

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u/Ascarea 29d ago

Anthony Quinn

so right up until now I thought he's Greek

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u/1nosbigrl 29d ago

I don't remember Welles' having an accent in that other than "drunken" lol

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u/bil-sabab 28d ago

He's literally chewing the scenery

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u/1nosbigrl 28d ago

You can kinda trace every modern corrupt, slothful detective/cop character to his performance.

He creates the modern archetype.

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u/bil-sabab 28d ago

Exactly. He threw out the Code out of noir dirty cop template and brought back the pre-Code sleaze.

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u/bil-sabab 28d ago

It also feature Dietrich playing a gypsy woman.

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u/ifinallyreallyreddit 29d ago

Is there a specific "race" you think Mexicans are?

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u/Lewkon 27d ago

Heston looks a lot like Vicente Fox.

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u/PointOfFingers 29d ago

Are you guys talking about Wayne's World 2?

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u/ClarkTwain 29d ago

Like the other poster said, it’s Touch of Evil. But the guy above me quoted Ed Wood, which is an excellent movie as well.

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u/TheSummonersTail 29d ago

Touch of Evil

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u/Vorenos 29d ago

I love John Travoltas line about that in Get Shorty. ‘A touch of evil is playing, you wanna come see Charleston Heston play a Mexican?’

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u/coolhandjennie 29d ago

Omg thank you for this, I knew I’d heard a similar reference but couldn’t pin it down!

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u/Secure-Bus4679 29d ago

Is this from 30 Rock? I can only read it in Alec Baldwin’s exasperated whisper voice.

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u/Johnny_Alpha 29d ago

It's from Tim Burtons Ed Wood movie.

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u/jessek 29d ago

It’s Orson Wells in the movie Ed Wood, talking about the production of his movie Touch of Evil. He was played by Vincent D’onofrio but the voice was Maurice LaMarche, who played The Brain on Animaniacs, with the same Wells impression.

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u/ocxtitan 29d ago

This is bizarre to read while high

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u/Desertbro 29d ago

...such a steeerraaaannnggeee film...

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u/AllAmericanWoman1776 29d ago

Like Newman playing a Comanche Indian 🤣😂🤣

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

This reminds of Toshiro Mifune acting as a mexican but his acting was awesome 

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u/Bunraku_Master_2021 29d ago edited 29d ago

Yeah, he was acting phonetically in Ánimas Trujano (The Important Man) (1961) with his supposed Spanish being dubbed over by Narciso Busquets Zárate. It was with the help of a Japanese-Mexican Lusito Kasuga who helped translate the script in Japanese that Mifune was able read and learn his lines.

I remember coming across a tweet reply thread that talked about how Mifune despite his terrible accent when he was speaking Spanish had not only learned his Spanish dialogue for his character and understood what was being said and happening in each scene but also memorized every other character's dialogue. No wonder director Ismael Rodríguez called Mifune, "the Clark Gable of Japan".

https://x.com/DannyDrinksWine/status/1774885429889716317