Acclaimed Australian director Rowan Woods had to fight to keep Oscar winner Forest Whitaker in his new film Winged Creatures after a film company executive dismissed the actor as "ugly, black and unbankable."
Despite having "the hottest ensemble cast in town", including Guy Pearce, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Jennifer Hudson, Woods said the company who owned the script wouldn't accept Whitaker as a leading man.
"The initial finance fell through when I stuck with Forest Whitaker for the role of Charlie," Woods said.
"An executive told me straight: `Even if he wins the Oscar he's ugly, he's black and he's unbankable.'"
Speaking at the Australian Directors Guild conference in Sydney this weekend, Woods said the company, which he wouldn't name for legal reasons, eventually let go of the script because of their disagreement over Whitaker.
The budget on Winged Creatures dropped from $US11 million to $US4.5 million because Woods wouldn't consider a Michael Douglas or an Al Pacino for Whitaker's role.
"The unbankable part of it was nearly right," he said.
"They wanted everyone but Forest Whitaker ... and this is one of the best actors on the planet.
"By the time we had stacked the cast around Forest the asking price for the movie had more than halved from its initial level."
Winged Creatures centres around a random shooting in a Los Angeles diner, and how it affects the lives of those who witness it.
It is Woods' third feature film after local productions Little Fish and The Boys.
He said he was instantly drawn to the multi-storyline drama by Roy Freirich.
"This wasn't the happy anecdote to my previous movies but it was too tempting," he said.
"There was a quiet ferocity to the screen play that confronted the hypocrisy of the US gun lobby without being overtly political."
Woods said his high profile cast was a pleasure to work with except for teenage starlet Dakota Fanning, who could be a diva on the set.
She initially refused to come out of her trailer on day one of shooting because her scene wasn't filmed first, and was "intensely jealous" of her young co-star Josh Hutcherson.
"Everyone was on their best behaviour on this film because they have got a `really serious Australian director who is known for his ensemble work'," Woods laughed.
"(Fanning) was the only one who was naughty."
Woods said while he thinks Fanning is a fine actor, on this film she didn't hit the mark.
"She is a gorgeous girl ... but she was the disaster," he said.
"There was something about her presence that wasn't ringing true.
"Most of our work was cutting her scenes and a lot of her scenes were cut."
Winged Creatures is due for a March 2009 release in the US with Australia to follow shortly after.
