Denzel Washington Wasn't The Studio's First Choice
Initially, Denzel's role was written for a comedic actor like Bill Murray or Robin Willaims. Demme wanted a comedian to add some levity to the film, but when Demme sat down with Washington, he told the director he was incredibly interested. Their conversation looked like this: "'Well, to tell you the truth, we're gonna have such a struggle to get people to see an AIDS movie, we were hoping to cast it with someone who, right out of the box, the mention of their name signals to people that there's gonna be a lot of humor in this movie.' And Denzel said, 'Well, I happen to be very, very funny.'"
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