Tupac as Jody in Baby Boy
Deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was originally supposed to play Jody in the film Baby Boy. According to reports, the role was written for him in 1996, and director John Singleton wanted the West Coast rapper in the movie. The rapper was killed that year, and the movie was put on hold. It came out in 2001, with Jody being portrayed by R&B singer Tyrese Gibson.
Gabrielle Union as Olivia Pope in Scandal
Actress Gabrielle Union revealed in an interview that she originally auditioned for the role of Olivia Pope on ABC‘s hit show Scandal.
“There’s the whole group of us who auditioned for Scandal that not just fell in love with that project and (show creator) Shonda (Rhimes), but the process, the level of respect that we were given even in the audition process and the world that Shonda created even for us trying. It was like, is there ever gonna be another situation for you like that?”
The role went to actress Kerry Washington, and Union ended up playing Mary Jane Paul in BET’s Being Mary Jane instead.
