The Unusual Way David Cross Got The Script For Sorry To Bother You
As you may have noticed in the trailers, David Cross has a strange part to play in writer/director Boots Riley's new movie, Sorry To Bother You. Rather than playing a character of his own, his role in the film is providing the "white voice" that is put on by Lakeith Stanfield's Cassius Green during telemarketing calls. It's an odd gig for the actor, but, what makes it even funnier is that he only signed on to the project because of random chance. Riley recently told me,
Hollywood history is filled with funny stories about how actors practically magically fell into roles, and this is a fantastic example. I had the pleasure of hopping on the phone with Boots Riley in late June to talk about his work on Sorry To Bother You, and it was at the end of our interview that he told me this story. I asked how it was that he got the various "white voice" actors involved with the project early on, and he revealed that he essentially got very lucky when it came to signing David Cross, who didn't have authentic plans to read his script before it was recommended.
David Cross and Patton Oswalt -- who does the "white voice" for Omari Hardwick's Mr. _ (pronounced "Blank") -- wound up being the first two actors who signed on for the film, but the uniqueness of the whole situation didn't end there. Both Cross and Oswalt became involved without knowing which of the two key characters they would be playing -- and it wasn't until after Boots Riley started recording that he figured it out:
At the end of the day, it's hard to argue with Boots Riley's choices, given that both David Cross and Patton Oswalt are great in the movie, and truly sound super white.
Sorry To Bother You, which stars Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Danny Glover, Armie Hammer, Terry Crews and Jermaine Fowler in addition to Lakeith Stanfield and Omari Hardick, is hitting theaters in limited release this week, and will be going wide on July 13th. Be sure to be on the lookout for it (it's fantastic), and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with Boots Riley.
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.