Casting What-Ifs
Ron Howard as director; Denzel Washington as Dalton Russell
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:07Read transcript
- Ron Howard was supposed to direct.
- Spike Lee let Denzel choose either role; Denzel turned down the Clive Owen part because the character is always in disguise.
- Owen nearly turned the role down for the same reason, so scenes of him talking into the camera were added.
- Spike cast Amir Ali Saeed as the kid after seeing him in a Chappelle Show sketch.
- A hostage named Miriam was played by Marsha Jean Kurtz because she played a bank hostage named Miriam in Dog Day Afternoon, which Spike loved.
- The pizza-delivering cop may be a second Dog Day actor, and the pizza comes from Sal's Pizzeria as a callback.