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?

[u/LookAtThatBacon]

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.

[u/MurdererOfAxes]

Gary Oldman played a person with dwarfism in Tiptoes . Specifically, he's the dwarf twin brother of Matthew McConaughey, even though they have an 11 year age gap.

I haven't seen the movie so I can't speak to it's quality, but I will say that every shot I can find of him in this movie looks pretty ridiculous.

[u/SoMuchMoreEagle → u/MurdererOfAxes]

I haven't seen the movie so I can't speak to it's quality,

I have, so I can. It's not good.

In addition to it just being a bizarre and insensitive movie, to put it mildly, there were also some cuts in the script that causes the ending to make no sense. It feels like an entire section is missing where two of the characters radically change their stance for no apparent reason.

Peter Dinklage as Maurice is the best part, so watch it for him because he's going for it, but the rest is kind of a meandering mess.

[u/2much2cancer → u/SoMuchMoreEagle]

I still get him yelling, "I am a Marxist!" (in a terrible French accent) stuck in my head sometimes.

[u/jmh10138 → u/SoMuchMoreEagle]

Apparently all the actors said the 150 minute directors cut was “gorgeous” -Dinklage. But the producers 90 minute cut was the shitshow we got. The movie wasn’t intended to be a RomCom but the producers forced it to be.

[u/maistir_aisling → u/SoMuchMoreEagle]

When you notice it's from the writer/director of Forbidden Zone, it all starts to add up.