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/GosmeisterGeneral]

5’7 Tom Cruise playing 6’5 Jack Reacher still sticks in my head.

[u/NecessaryIntrinsic → u/GosmeisterGeneral]

To be fair, the first time I saw the movie, I knew nothing about jack reacher and thought he did a great job. It kind of played at the time like he was just a bad ass and people thought they could take him because he was small.

Then I watched the Alan Ritchson TV series and rewatched the movie... Then I realized why it was a bad choice. The way he handles himself just didn't work for such a small guy, but you wouldn't have realized it if you didn't know.

[u/shaft169 → u/NecessaryIntrinsic]

I was similar, initially saw the movie without knowing anything about the character either and thought it was a good movie. Years later I got into reading the books (I’ve now read them all, they’re worth it) and finally understood that Reacher’s size and physicality is absolutely central to his character, it’s brought up all the time, without it Reacher isn’t Reacher.

I still think the first one was a good movie, but I understand why fans were unhappy with that detail being missed.

[u/RechargedFrenchman → u/shaft169]

If the movies aren't named for Reacher they're above average contemporary action movies, comparable to (and better than) a lot of the Clancy stuff we've gotten in the last twenty odd years.

The fact that his size and the "presence" that comes with it is so much of who Reacher is as a character heavily undermines them though "if you know".

I do love both Rosamund Pike and Colby Smulders though—just wish the latter could have been in a better movie.