Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali revealed he almost turned down his role in ‘Benjamin Button’ due to a sex scene in the script.
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The actor revealed during an interview on Common’s podcast that when he auditioned for David Fincher’s 2008 film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and refused to do a sex scene because of his religion. Ali converted to Islam in 1999 and said he didn’t want the role out of respect for his beliefs.
“So my old agent called me and said, ‘Mahershala, you got the part.’ And I said, there’s just one thing: there is that one sex scene where they kiss. If there’s a sex scene, I can’t do it.”
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However, Fincher respected Ali’s wishes, and in the scene where Ali’s character Tizzy Weathers and Taraji P. Henson’s character Queenie is drastically cut short. He continued, “Taraji and I begin to kiss, and we fall out of the frame. It wasn’t clear if [Fincher] was trying to have like some bumping and grinding, which I doubt he was.”
Although the decision was made 15 years ago, Ali said he was figuring things out of respect for his Islamic faith. Insider reported that the actor turned a role on HBO’s “The Duece” because the character was expected to perform a sex scene.
“I asked them, ‘Do you guys foresee my character needing to have sex and show it?’ And they did. So, you know, I had to pass!”