You Won’t Believe This But, ABC Wanted A White Woman To Play Olivia Pope In ‘Scandal’
Follow @eventlabgh < By Njideka Akabogu | April 11, 2017 In case you didn’t know, the character Olivia Pope in the ABC hit...
In case you didn’t know, the character Olivia Pope in the ABC hit series, ‘Scandal‘ was based on Judy Smith – an American crisis manager and lawyer who also happens to be a black woman.
Judy Smith (L) pictured with Kerry Washington
So, common sense would tell you that when you’re making a movie/show about her, the actress who will play her should be a black woman, no? Well, apparently some bigwigs at ABC didn’t think so.
Their first choice to play the wine-loving fixer in the series wasn’t Kerry Washington but, a white actress – Connie Britton. The show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes made this revelation as the cast and crew celebrated the 100th episode of the show recently.
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- Connie Britton
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- Kerry Washington
“Nothing felt more important than the sense of outsiderness. I didn’t know that there hadn’t been a drama series with a leading black woman for 37 years,” Rhimes said. “When the show got picked up, I got a phone call from somebody who said, ‘This would be the perfect show for Connie Britton.’ I said, ‘It would be, except Olivia Pope is black.’”
Shonda Rhimes, the show’s creator felt strongly about a black woman playing the lead role.
She felt so strongly about it that they let her have her way and Kerry landed the role but that was after they tried out two other black actresses namely, Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose.
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