Robert Townsend’s documentary Making The Five Heartbeats is streaming on UMC TV, and he revealed to Page Six that both Niecy Nash and R. Kelly auditioned for the beloved movie.
“Keenan Ivory Wayans and I rewrote that script like 30 times, and what you will see is Niecy Nash on line at the open call audition,” Townsend said. “She was just a baby. Now she’s a Hollywood icon. R. Kelly is on line to audition at the Regal Theatre in Chicago,” he told us.
“He comes to me and he’s like, ‘Mr. Townsend I’m trying to be a songwriter for the movie’ … He did play some music for me.”
The documentary shows us the making of the film which was co-written by Wayans and Townsend, who was also supposed to co-star in it but his role went to Leon Robinson. “I saw Leon in the Madonna video ‘Like A Prayer,’ playing the Jesus figure and when I met him I thought he had a cool vibe to him. I thought he would be perfect for the role.”
