Movie studio wanted J.Lo to play an Indian

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2003

The Miramax film studio wanted Puerto Rican actress / singer / danger Jennifer Lopez and Mexican / Arab actress Selma Hayek to play two Indian girls in a movie, Native actress Michelle St. John says.

St. John tells The Toronto Star that the casting suggestion was one reason why author Sherman Alexie abandoned a three-picture deal with the studio to make his own movies. She stars in his directorial debut, The Business Of Fancy Dancing, for which she won outstanding Performance By An Actress In A Film at the 11th Annual First Americans In the Arts Awards last week.

St. John, who is Native, black and Jewish from Canada, was unable to attend. "I couldn't get a cheap flight," she says.

Get the Story:
Journey from Dances With Wolves to Soaks In Javex (The Toronto Star 2/14)

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