'Empire' Series News: Taraji P. Henson Cast as Cookie Within 30 Seconds of Audition
Taraji P. Henson nailed down her role as Cookie Lyon within 30 seconds of her audition.
"Empire" executive producer Danny Strong recently shared that not-so-surprising revelation with a crowd exuberant fans at the ATX Festival in Austin, Texas.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the way Strong remembers it is Henson had been summoned to do a "chemistry test" with series star Terrence Howard for him and fellow exec Lee Daniels.
"About 30 seconds into Taraji being Cookie, Lee whispered to me, 'She's Cookie right?'" he said. "Then [Lee said to Henson]: 'All right b**ch, you got the part.'"
Strong insists no other actresses were seriously considered for the part of Cookie, which flies directly in the face of claims recently made by Academy Award winning actress Mo'Nique that she was offered the role first.
The actress who previously starred in Daniels' film "Precious," recently shared with "Access Hollywood" she's heard the rumblings about how she's been blackballed in Hollywood since that time and it's also affected her relationship with the filmmaker she once seemed to share such a rapport with.
"I never believed, nor did I ever say, that I was blackballed," she said. "It's a statement that Mr. Daniels made to me, so by no means, do I think that I have been blackballed from Hollywood."
According to Mo'Nique, issues arose when she was asked by the studio to do extra promotional work for "Precious." Among the requests was that she attend the Cannes Film Festival to support the film, and when she informed she would not be compensated for doing so, she declined.
As for the role of Cookie, she added, "Mr. Daniels offered me the part of Cookie, and I have the emails and the sides to go along with it." Later, the actresses claims Daniels told her he was told by Fox network officials that they felt she was difficult to work with, which led to her not getting the role.
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