20 Things You Didn't Know About 2021's Oscar Nominees
8. It Originally Starred Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson & Giancarlo Esposito - Da 5 Bloods
Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods surprisingly only ended up with a solitary Best Original Score nomination for Terence Blanchard, but the ambitious, time-hopping war drama was almost quite different indeed.
Though the film ended up starring the brilliant likes of Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Jonathan Majors, when Lee was originally putting it together he had Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Giancarlo Esposito, and Denzel's son John David lined up for the main roles.
In an interview with Collider, Esposito talked about the heartbreak of having to let the project go:
"I just love and adore Spike Lee, and the messages that he created in his films that are so powerful and strong, and also because the cast he was talking to at that time. But it didn't work out for any of us because the shoot got pushed, and Spike was wanting everyone to be there the whole time overseas when he shot it, and I was still shooting Better Call Saul, and was juggling that with Godfather of Harlem, so it didn't work out. It was so hard for me not to be able to do that film."