"Doubt" Film Casting: Mrs. Muller?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:19pm

Has any one heard any significant rumors as to who they're pursuing for Mrs. Muller in the film adaptation of "Doubt"?

I can't imagine anyone more perfect for the role (or to go toe-to-toe with Streep) than Angela Bassett.

Updated On: 8/1/07 at 04:19 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:22pm

J-Hud

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:31pm

eddie murphy in drag.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:32pm

I haven't heard any substantial rumors though Angela Bassett and Alfre Woodard are the names that keep coming up.
I personally would love to see Chandra Wilson in the role. Isn't Bassett too old to be the mother of a 14 year old?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:35pm

Bassett is going on fifty (and looks a good few years younger than that.)

Her playing a woman who had a child at thirty six wouldn't be the least bit suspect in my opinion.

[Funny Face]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:37pm

She played the mother in Akeelah and the Bee, and that girl looked like she was about 12.

[D2]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:37pm

Given some recent headlines about older women giving birth, I would say that unless Bassett is 80, she's not too old to have a 14 year old son.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:37pm

Your right, I just always imagined Mrs.Muller closer to 40 (Lenox was 38, I believe when she played the role off-Broadway), not that it really makes any substantial difference.
Actually, after Wilson, Bassett would be my second choice.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:42pm

I'm almost certain "Doubt" goes into production in November, so Chandra Wilson will be all tied up with "Grey's Anatomy."

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:53pm

You're right again, somethingwicked. I forgot GREY'S ANATOMY already started filming and won't be done till next year. There goes that.
I prefer Bassett to Alfre Woodard, I wonder who is actually been tackled for the role though.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:55pm

Oh, I want to see Chandra Wilson stretch her acting muscles fully. This part would be perfect for her, but I totally seen Ms. Bassett.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 4:58pm

Unless they expand the role, couldn't Chandra do it on winter Hiatus?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 5:01pm

Halle Berry.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 5:06pm

Halle could do it.

[crushgroove]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 5:13pm

Although I have never seen Doubt as a play. I heard it's an emotionally wrenching play. I really don't think Halle Berry is capable of it. I know she won an Oscar, blah blah blah. But I really don't think she has tremendous range as an actress...

[JB Fan]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 5:14pm

"Your right, I just always imagined Mrs.Muller closer to 40 (Lenox was 38, I believe when she played the role off-Broadway), not that it really makes any substantial difference.
Actually, after Wilson, Bassett would be my second choice. "

I just looked up Ms. Lennox on IMDB, she was born in 1956, making her 48 in 2004, when Doubt was Off-Broadway.

[robbiej]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 5:20pm

IMDB certainly does say that. But IBDB says 1965. As she made her Broadway debut 25+ years ago in Ain't Misbehavin', I'm thinkin the 1956 date is probably correct.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 6:30pm

crushgroove, I saw the play with the original cast. I think Halle would be up to the task. It is not a big part (The character is onstage all of 15 minutes) But I could see her pulling it off. I wouldn't be surprised if they expanded the role a bit for the movie.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 6:33pm

The role of Mrs. Muller is being expanded for the film adaptation.

Several new characters are also being added for the movie, and ones we never saw (like Donald Muller) will also be featured prominently on screen.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 6:39pm

I've only read the play. But I am glad they are expanding it for film. It will need expanding to make it on the big screen.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 6:41pm

thanks somethingwicked. I kinda figured that would happen.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 9:13pm

I can see a lot of women playing this role. Kerry Washington, Sophie Okonedo, Kimberly Elise , Sanna Lathan, Thandie Newton, Viola Davis, Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah. All of these woman are outstanding and work very hard.

As for the Halle Berry thing, I am so sick of people saying she does not have range, she bore her soul in Monsters Ball, it is a raw and real performance. Very powerful to me, and her work as Dorothy Dandridge was flawless. Give me a break about the she does not have range. The look on her face at the end of that film is remarkable. I also dont get why the sex scene in that film offends adults. It is like go see a foreign film already!

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 10:39pm

To this day, I don't see how Halle Berry has an Oscar, especially with the competition that year but that's beating a dead horse. Let's just say in my opinion Meryl Streep, Philip Hoffman, and even the young (yet incredibly talented) Amy Adams would all eat her alive, spit her out, and eat her remains on that movie so I hope she is not part of the cast.
On the contrary I think Chandra Wilson (who never fails to amaze me on GREY'S ANATOMY) would be simply fantastic in the movie but I doubt she'll be available. I was going by Lenox' ibdb.com age, I wasn't aware she was 10 years older.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 11:24pm

I'd like to second Viola Davis for the part, or Regina Taylor. Oh, or maybe Regina King, who may be too young for the part.

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 7/31/07 at 11:29pm

I second the idea of Regina King, although I agree she is a bit young. She has proved herself lately of being so versitile from her fruitless comedic roles to her deeper, more impassioned ones. Bassett is still number one in my book, though.

I am still disappointed with Hoffman though, TOTALLY wrong in my opinion. oh well.