Whoopi Goldberg shocked her fans this week by revealing that her Oscar-winning performance in the 1990 movie Ghost nearly didn’t happen at all.
In a new interview with the supermodel Naomi Campbell for “No Filter With Naomi,” Goldberg explained that she was initially turned down for Ghost until Patrick Swayze stepped in and went to bat for her.
“Every Black woman and their mother went to this audition,” Goldberg explained, according to MSN. “Women got out of the grave for this audition.”
When Goldberg inquired about the audition, she got some bad news from her manager.
“They don’t want you,” she remembered her manager telling her. “They think that your persona is too big and will take people out of the movie.”
Goldberg confessed that this hurt her feelings, as she did not think that she was “too big” for the role. A few days later, however, she got the surprise of her life.
“I get a call and [my agent] says, ‘Remember that movie they didn’t want you for? Well, the director and the actor want to come to wherever you are and see if there’s a way to do this with you,’” Goldberg recalled.
She was then told that Swayze had been cast as the lead, and he had specifically asked producers why they had not approached Goldberg to play the coveted role of Oda Mae Brown. Despite the fact that Swayze had never met Goldberg, he thought she was perfect for the role.
“Patrick said, ‘I’m not saying yes to this piece until we know that she’s not the right person, because this is ridiculous, she’s perfect,’” Goldberg said. “I’d never met him but he was a fan.”
“You never know who’s watching, you never know who remembers something about you. That was another great lesson,” she added.
Goldberg and Swayze hit it off as soon as they finally met, and their chemistry was evident onscreen. Goldberg would go on to with the Best Supporting Actress award at the Academy Awards for her work in Ghost, and she remained close friends with Swayze until he tragically passed away in 2009 at the age of 57 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
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