I was told, ‘We have ten guys coming today, and you’re cast.
Aren’t you excited to make out with all of them?’
And I thought, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’
because I wasn’t excited.
I thought it sounded gross."
It wasn’t a power play; no one was trying to be awful or hurt me.
It was just a very different time, and now we know better."
We are stood side-by-side with only tape on covering our privates.
She said, “And he lurched away, looking really shocked that he’d said that.”
Her husband, Ol Parker, spoke to the producer to find out what was going on.
And they would all get off on it," Thandiwe said.
Lean in a little bit.'
And at some point, I decided I just wasn’t going to do that.
And I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t.'"
“And then the guy felt really bad.
And I was like, ‘No, it’s fine.
I’m just not going to do it.
If that’s what you want, I’m not your guy.’
And then that movie was hugely successful.
Still, I don’t regret it,” he said.
And it was a role for a call center guy who does an accent.
And I was like, ‘No, I’m not doing it.’
Ravi [Patel] was like, ‘I’ll do it!’
And Ravi did it, and he probably made decent money being the call center guy."
You have to work, and some people don’t think it’s a problem.
You do it," he said.
And I said, ‘I’m so sorry, but this role is not for me.
I don’t do that, and I’m not interested in this part.'"
She continued, “I walked out, and I was fuming.
I sat next to this actor and asked him, ‘Did they ask you to do an accent?’
He was Asian and spoke perfect English, and he was like, ‘Well, yeah.’
And I’m like, ‘Did you do it?’
And he said, ‘I have no other choice.’
I have to make things that matter to me.
Life is too short to completely dehumanize yourself.”
They’re like, ‘We love her.
But can she come back in with a tight black dress?'"
She continued, “I said, ‘That doesn’t make any sense for the character.’
A Harvard-educated motherfuckin’ lawyer, OK?
I wore a skirt, suit, and heels.
Then, there were many discussions about my hair.
They finally pick a skirt the shortest I brought.
Then got a T-shirt from one of the people in the office.
The woman says, ‘Hmmm, your boobs.’
I was like, ‘I didn’t bring a bra for this T-shirt.’
She screams down the hall, ‘Who wears a 34B?’
I put on someone else’s bra, a size too small, and somehow auditioned.”
“I remember wondering, ‘What did I just allow myself to do?’
It was one of those moments where you’re so confused and humiliated.
But that’s part of the biz,” she said.
They really love your work on the show.
But the director wants you to come into his office in a bikini.
There’s no audition.
That’s all you have to do.'"
She continued, “He wanted to know if I was fat now.
That was basically the question.
And I actually had this moment like, ‘Well, how good is the part?’
For a second, I was like, ‘Would I do it?
Send me the script.
Maybe the character is in a bikini in the movie.’
Not in a bikini in the movie.
Not naked in the movie.
‘We really love your work, but we just want to see how tight your ass is.’
Are you fucking kidding me?
Last time I checked, I’m not a fucking model.”
Lana said, “What the fuck does that mean?
That’s so insanely ignorant and racist.”
I straight up you kind of have to call that out.
Also, Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth.
That’s so insulting to me."
Then you have your ‘Long Duk Dongs,’ and I auditioned with Ferris Bueller’s opening monologue.
And they said, ‘That was good.
Can you do that all again in an Asian accent?’
And I’ll be honest with you.
I knew that I didn’t want to do that.
The system had no clue that’s not what I wanted.
We were just in a different time."
So they call, and they said, ‘Wed like to hire you.’
And I said, ‘No.’
And they got really mad.
And I was like, ‘Oh, thats not a good first step in this business.
I pissed somebody off.'"
Or like shorts and the tiniest shorts.
And they were like, ‘Okay, can you take your top off now?'"
OnTwitter, she later clarified, “I had a bikini top on UNDER my top.
They didn’t ask me to get totally topless.
Sorry to disappoint you!”
… What the fuck are you talking about, man?
Why would you ever think that?"
She continued, “Also, you’re in a director session.
you could’t really say or do anything.
You do the scene, you say hello, and you walk out.
There is no time to go sit on your lap or make you uncomfortable.
What the fuck are you talking about?”
Outside he spoke to a few other auditionees he recognized.
I immediately said, ‘What the fuck?'"
And it probably would get more laughs.
But is that a good reason to make an actor put on an accent?
Just because people would laugh?"
He decided to walk out of the audition.
He said, “I didn’t know how to train or diet.
And I’m glad Martin said something because I respond well to truth.
It helps me get better.”
