Mariah Carey Connection

Mariah Carey may have bagged the leading role in Tennessee, but according to director Aaron Woodley, he actually had someone else in mind.

“Actually, we approached Janet Jackson originally, and she was going to do the role,” he revealed.

“As time went on and we got closer to pre-production, she got very busy and her schedule wouldn’t allow her to do it any more, so she had to drop out of the film. At which point, we chose Mariah and she did a wonderful job.”

In the drama, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Mariah plays a waitress who flees from her abusive husband.

Aaron admitted he was keen on finding someone who could both sing and act well.

“The character does quite a bit of singing in the film, and I wanted the character to sing with her own voice, so it was either approaching an actress who could sing or a singer who could act, so that narrowed the field for us,” he added.

Source: Nottingham Evening Post