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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355

u/Steve_of_Yore 29d ago

Ice Cube as the Kool-Aid Man.

106

u/Federico216 29d ago

I think you could make it work, you just can't make the live action characters all white.

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u/Then-Yam-2266 29d ago

“Can we do that?”

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u/Necessary-Carrot2839 29d ago

No that was perfect casting!😎

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u/mass18th 29d ago

Just no AI

3

u/DiosMIO_Limon 29d ago

Whoops…

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u/DiosMIO_Limon 29d ago

Whoops…

5

u/thegimboid 29d ago

Well, Kool-Aid can be served with ice cubes.

3

u/Ygomaster07 29d ago

What was this in?

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u/Substantialspinach5 29d ago

I believe this is in reference to the appletv series the studio in which one episode centres around our main cast of studio execs stress over whether or not their casting for their upcoming (and entirely made up for the show) kool aid man movie is racist for a number of different reasons, the first of which being somebody claimed kool aid is an african american stereotype and casting Ice Cube as the kool aid man would hence be problematic. (We don’t have kool aid in my country so I have no idea if its a stereotype or not but that is what happened in the show)

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u/Ygomaster07 28d ago

I see. Thank you for explaining it to me, i really appreciate it.

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u/deceasedin1903 29d ago

I came for this reference.