2021: Cynthia Erivo calls out COLOR PURPLE producers for replacement casting communication

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 10:47am

I don't really understand the complaint –– Jennifer Holliday's casting was publicly announced 6 weeks before her first performance, and Erivo would not have had any level of casting approval over replacements since she was a non-entity when her contract was signed. This is all completely normal behavior whether it's a Tony-winning production or not; a full-cast onstage meeting is a typical place to share this info.

The producer (let's assume she's talking about Scott Sanders) shouldn't have lost his cool, but I'm going to assume she and her agents had other demands or incidents before and this was teh culmination of that...

 

From Vanity Fair:

If someone leaves, they just replace them without really talking to anyone. So, I’m playing Celie, and they’re replacing Shug, who is my co-star. I have no idea who’s coming in until the week they’re coming in. And this was the third time around they’re replacing. The producer announces on the stage who’s replacing Heather [Headley], and I have no idea. And I remember going, “Why wouldn’t you tell me?” It was after a show that the producer told us, on the stage. And I remember going, “Well, do you mind if we talk about this?” And he was like, “Yes.” And then he sneaks off so I can’t find him. But I see him walking off and I follow him. 

I follow him, and I call out to him, I call his name, I call his name. He ignores me. He doesn’t stop. This man at the end of the corridor goes, “She’s calling you.” So, he stops, turns around, comes back. And I go, “Why wouldn’t you tell me what’s going on?” and he flies off the handle. Yells at me in the corridor, points at my face, says, “You don’t have the right to talk to me like this. You just do this show.” And Michaela, this is after I’ve won the Tony. The show itself has won a Tony. And I’m now annoyed. I’m like, “I can’t believe this. You don’t care about me or the show. You care about the fact that you’ve won. Now you’ve won your Tony, and I don’t matter. I don’t matter because you won the thing.” And it was that moment for me that, all the work, all of the stuff I had done to at least gain the respect of the people I’m working with went out the window.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 10:56am

Erivo seems to love to butt in when it comes to casting, whether it's her show or someone else's. Sorry but I'm a little salty about her part in getting Great Comet closed, but unless she's a producer or investor, or came in with casting approval as part of her contract, she is just a performer in a show. She needs to fire her agent, or just start her own casting agency. 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 10:58am

More arrogance from her. Bleh.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:10am

everythingtaboo said: "unless she's a producer or investor, or came in with casting approval as part of her contract, she is just a performer in a show. She needs to fire her agent, or just start her own casting agency."

Erivo most definitely has casting approval now (or at least consultation) if she's attached in a leading role, being that she's a 2x Oscar nominee. But no producer is going to grant casting approval to a "nobody" making their Broadway debut (and at the time of her hiring was the least famous of the 3 leads –– yet still got first-position billing for playing the indisputable lead role).

Would love an oral history of her & Hudson's interactions together offstage, because the rumor at the time was that they weren't really on speaking terms. It's funny that they both went on to play Aretha Franklin in insultingly bad dramatizations of her life.

Updated On: 8/17/21 at 11:10 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:16am

Good lord. She sounds like an absolute nightmare.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:19am

She is the worst. I know she's sort of an "it" girl right now but I imagine at some point her obvious difficulty will catch up to her.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:25am

I saw it on Jennifer's first day there. I wasn't playing close attention at cast changes so I wasn't aware. Their chemistry was way off and they were clearly both playing for themselves.

Both incredibly talented ladies, though.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:25am

Mr. Wormwood said: "She is the worst. I know she's sort of an "it" girl right now but I imagine at some point her obvious difficulty will catch up to her."

I dunno, being difficult hasn't stopped men in the movie biz, as long as the "difficult" person in question also sells tickets... That doesn't make the difficulty "right," but unless she becomes a creative nightmare for directors, she'll keep working.

That said, her next project is with director Robert Zemeckis on the Disney remake of Pinocchio, and I suspect she and him (both known hotheads) will get along like Laura Osnes and Tony Fauci.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:35am

Erivo is directly responsible for the misinformation around Great Comet's casting, which ultimately led to the show closing. I cringe every time she is on my TV. I am sure this is a fabricated lie.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:39am

I lost all respect for her over the Great Comet issue, which is sad cause she was incredible in The Color Purple in London. That Oscar nomination for Harriet must have been a joke, that film took the story of a brave brilliant woman and turned into nothing more than a crazy woman thinking god was talking to her!

[pollster2]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:47am

@Mods, I am not sure why my post was deleted but I absolutely stand by it.

 

As a performer, Erivo is incredibly talented. As an "activist," she is downright insufferable.

 

If this warrants deletion, please DM me.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:49am

She continues to show how obnoxious and self righteous she is. As if someone making their Broadway debut needs to be consulted about casting decisions! It’s a shame that all her talent is contrasted with an overall crappy person.

It still boggles my mind why she would agree to making her Aretha series when Jennifer Hudson had already been cast by Aretha herself, and the biopic was already underway.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 11:55am

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "It still boggles my mind why she would agree to making her Aretha series when Jennifer Hudson had already been cast by Aretha herself, and the biopic was already underway."

Don't blame Erivo for this –– it's more about the hubris of Brian Grazer & Ron Howard who produced it despite the biopic already being in the works.

On paper though, the miniseries had Suzan-Lori Parks, Anthony Hemingway (who has directed some great TV episodes), and Howard/Grazer attached, which is a more esteemed group than the movie. I hear the movie and series both had flaws.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:01pm

she is insufferable, and I, too, have gotten the sense from interviews/events that she isn't particularly well liked by those she works with. that said, as long as people can stand to work with her, i hope to see her on stage again and again. shes an incredible talent. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:05pm

She already rubbed me the wrong way with the Comet fiasco, and now this? Like, girl, you're an actor, you are the least important person in the room. That's just how it is. They don't need to tell you ****! Maybe now she'd have more pull, but she makes it seem like she won the Tony now she can control everything. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:17pm

While I can understand WANTING to be involved in the process of who you will be dealing with on stage, she wasn't in any sort of position to make those demands - especially if she'd never gone to the producers ASKING for any sort of pre-knowledge or "talk".    

 

I'm with others - talented woman, but I'm just not interested in her anymore.

 

 

Updated On: 8/18/21 at 12:17 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:19pm

"And I remember going, “Well, do you mind if we talk about this?” And he was like, “Yes.”

What exactly did she want to talk about? That makes no sense. If she truly wanted a say on casting (which is delusional either way), she could've asked for a meeting way before this event. You don't chase a producer down the hall because you suddenly feel you have power over casting, then get offended.

She thinks she's WAY more famous and influential than she actually is. She cray.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:28pm

Maybe this is my ignorance, but you'd think they'd have at least read together before Jennifer was cast, no? Like had them read together in an audition room or sing together? 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:32pm

Right? Their discomfort with each other was so obvious with one another, it took me a minute to figure out they were supposed to like each other since I knew nothing about this show going in. That's how bad it was. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:34pm

RippedMan said: "Maybe this is my ignorance, but you'd think they'd have at least read together before Jennifer was cast, no? Like had them read together in an audition room or sing together?"

There's a lot of blind trust on Broadway, especially when it comes to replacement casting. Holliday has said she auditioned for John Doyle, but evidently not alongside Erivo.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:36pm

I think it’s rather bizarre that Erivo is re-litigating how a casting change was handled five years ago.

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:47pm

blaxx said: ""And I remember going, “Well, do you mind if we talk about this?” And he was like, “Yes.”

What exactly did she want to talk about? That makes no sense. If she truly wanted a say on casting (which is delusional either way), she could've asked for a meeting way before this event. You don't chase a producer down the hall because you suddenly feel you have power over casting, then get offended.

She thinks she's WAY more famous and influential than she actually is. She cray."

All of this. What did she even think would be the outcome of the discussion? That they would cancel someone’s contract? That seems contradictory based on how she reacted to the “Comet” fiasco. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 12:52pm

I can certainly understand a lead actor wanting to be involved with replacement casting. It’s probably not very common. Since that was clearly the case than Erivo should have consulted with the producers through her agent and request to be present for the auditions prior to the casting process being concluded. Instead she admits to chasing the producer down a hallway after the fact. This article paints her as the one in the wrong in this case and not the producer.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 2:00pm

Ervio coming off entitled again. It's been a hot minute. Headley's casting announcement was revealed weeks before her start date. Did she really expect to be apart of the casting process? Not for nothing, but she needs to check herself these days. None of her movies have done well. She's an amazing talent on the stage, but it's fascinating that her movie career isn't going so well.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/17/21 at 2:10pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Erivo most definitely has casting approval now(or at least consultation) if she's attached in a leading role, being that she's a 2x Oscar nominee. But no producer is going to grant casting approval to a "nobody" making their Broadway debut (and at the time of her hiring was the least famous of the 3 leads –– yet still got first-position billing for playing the indisputable lead role).

Incorrect -- not even the megastars (Jackman, Lupone, Peters, etc.) have casting approval (or even consultation) in their contracts.  As a courtesy, some producers may like to discuss casting of certain other roles -- but that's about it.