The “awfully miscast” movie Morgan Freeman knew was doomed from the very start
Actors are smart enough to know when they’ve signed on to a movie doomed to fail, whether that happens before or after they’ve completed their scenes. Despite all the talent in the world and no shortage of potential, Morgan Freeman realised early on that a notorious bust wasn’t going to perform well.
It seems strange that an actor would willingly participate on a sinking ship, but contracts can be iron-clad, and it is likely that nobody involved in a picture can really escape once that particular ship has set sail into the murky waters of trouble.
In one of his first major on-screen roles since a breakthrough in 1989 that had seen him secure an Academy Award nomination for Driving Miss Daisy and lend distinguished support in Glory, Freeman appeared in Brian De Palma’s star-studded adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities. If you know anything about the movie, you know it might well be one of the biggest flops in 20th-century cinema.
On paper, a jet-black comedy based on a bestselling novel that boasted Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith in the lead roles sounded like a licence to print money, but the production suffered from repeated issues that left many prognosticating nothing but disappointment when it came to cinemas in December 1990.
Casting the trio of big names proved nightmarish in itself, with Steve Martin rejected for the part ultimately played by Hanks, before the studio pressured De Palma into casting box office draw Willis at the expense of selecting the candidate he deemed to be the best fit. At the same time, a contractual dispute saw F Murray Abraham fight to have his name removed from the credits. It has since become a black mark for all those involved. Sadly, for most stars, the picture also seemed to be doomed from the very start.
As for Freeman, Alan Arkin was originally set to play Judge Leonard White, but when the screenplay was heavily rewritten to make the character more sympathetic and downplay the racial politics of the story in an effort to avoid any backlash, the esteemed veteran was drafted in.
The Shawshank Redemption star was fully aware that he was stepping into a firestorm, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I knew that movie wasn’t going to work”. As well saying De Palma didn’t have a clue about the project and it was obvious that either “he didn’t read the book or that he didn’t like the book”, The Bonfire of the Vanities was a disaster waiting to happen. And it certainly happened.
Calling it “the one time Tom Hanks was awfully miscast,” Freeman even applied that sentiment to his own contributions after he named Arkin “perfect casting.” Although acknowledging the studio’s desire to avoid negative publicity, Freeman conceded that “they had to be politically correct and make the judge black.”
Aptly referring to Arkin’s dismissal and his subsequent hiring on that basis as “not a great way to get a role”, Freeman confessed he was “kind of a suck-ass for not turning it down”. He also admitted that he’d never gotten around to seeing The Bonfire of the Vanities in its final form, but he was hardly alone in that regard.
The film failed to even recoup a third of its $47million budget in ticket sales and would land five Golden Raspberry nominations, including ‘Worst Picture’ and ‘Worst Director’, so Freeman made the right call in the end to avoid it completely.
