Precious director Lee Daniels was the guest on The Daily Show last night, where Jon Stewart kissed his ass big time — he must have truly loved Precious! They got started right away talking about Daniels’s unusual casting choices for Precious — musicians, comedians, nobodies — and Daniels told the story of how Helen Mirren was originally supposed to play Mariah Carey’s character, but called three days before shooting to say, “I can’t do it; I have a real job, a paying job.†Which makes her sound kind of jerky! And then even when Daniels backpedaled, explaining that Helen is his friend, he still quoted her as saying she could do Mariah Carey’s role “in her sleep,†implying that it was a stretch for Mariah. But the best part was when Jon (who also said he would threaten to host the Oscars again if Mo’Nique didn’t win) imitated Daniels on the phone shouting, “Helen Mirren can’t do this, get me the girl from Glitter!â€
Lee Daniels [Daily Show]