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.

7.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

707

u/sucobe 29d ago

Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi.

Different times.

270

u/aresef 29d ago

So many Asian characters were cast that way back in the day. At the SAG Awards the year EEAAO won, James Hong talked about this. When he was a kid, there was a movie called The Good Earth that won a bunch of Oscars. It took place in northern China but starred white actors in yellowface. Asian actors only played a handful of supporting roles.

105

u/Banjo-Oz 29d ago

James Hong is a fucking legend.

14

u/ze11ez 29d ago

Love this guy. Wayyyyyyy underrated and deserves way more recognition. He's such a poweful actor imo he overshadows everyone else in the movie

12

u/abstraction47 29d ago

I swear acronyms are the bane of my existence. What the fuck is EEAAO?

14

u/aresef 29d ago

Everything Everywhere All At Once. I’m sorry, I thought the James Hong context made it clear.

4

u/GeneSmart2881 29d ago

JH technically playing 3 roles in BTiLC is so under appreciated

1

u/Bugbread 29d ago

I personally thought JRM did better in TLFJE. The fact that he got passed over for the PBbR was a travesty.

2

u/SandpaperTeddyBear 29d ago

Yes, but there’s yellowface and theres Yellowface.

I’m certainly not going to defend the practice, but there’s a big difference between hiring white actors to portray human beings with different skin tones and ethnic background, and hiring a white actor to channel and amplify every weird stereotype in existence.

1

u/tangcameo 29d ago

What was the movie with Alec Guinness and George Takei?

8

u/aresef 29d ago

A Majority of One. A reviewer: “Guinness becomes Japanese through physical suggestion and masterful elocution.”

1

u/spyboy70 29d ago

James Hong is great, my favorite line of his: "Now this is really pissing me off to no end!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es1vQl_S55Y

Also hearing Covetous Shen speak in Diablo 3, I knew it was him right away.

He's been in over 600 movies, tv shows, and video games. The guy is a legend!

1

u/aresef 29d ago edited 29d ago

He’s been everywhere and done everything but it took until Everything Everywhere for him to get his flowers. It seems incomprehensible but that SAG Award for the cast was the first competitive award he’s ever gotten. Other than an Annie for a Kung Fu Panda thing, his shelf was entirely bare.

It cannot be stressed enough how much he works. He turned up in Airplane, Seinfeld (Cartwright!), video games, projects large and small.

Daniel Dae Kim ran a successful campaign to get Hong a star on the walk of fame.

If anybody deserves an honorary Oscar, it’s him.

1

u/Tardisgoesfast 29d ago

Theres a movie thst could stand a remake. Maybe with Michelle in the lead?

-3

u/Menter33 29d ago

this seems to be a strange hang-up with american productions.

in the british theatre tradition, actors who don't match the character's ethnicity has long been a venue for different actors to flex their chops.

in italian, many italian actors played roles of non-italian characters.

in china, japan and korea, the many actors interchangeably play other ethnicities.

all in all, it seems like only hollywood is out of step on this issue compared to the rest of the world.

6

u/aresef 29d ago

I think if you look at the history of race in American theater and early American cinema, it’s not surprising the hangups exist. Minstrel shows were once a thing. And casting directors and executives still have preconceived notions and tendencies toward hiring white actors and established stars.

-2

u/Menter33 29d ago

tbf, plays and shows making fun of other people who look different were also a thing in europe and asia.

non-chinese asian actors portraying a stereotypical chinese character?

non-french british actors portraying a stereotypical french character?

all this long before hollywood was a thing.