Some of the Juiciest Bits From Scandal's Oral History
LatestOn Thursday, Scandal will air its 100th episode. To commemorate this television feat, the cast and show creators sat down for an oral history of the show that had us all drinking red wine out of enormous glasses, eating popcorn for dinner and lusting after $10,00 white trench coats for the past five years.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg spoke to ABC executives, Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn, Linda Lowy, the show’s casting director, and of course, Shonda Rhimes, for a look at how Scandal grew from its modest debut on April 5, 2012 to become one of the cornerstones of the Shondaland empire. I’ve pulled some select treats from the excellent oral history Goldberg compiled, which you can read in full here.
Loosely based on real-life DC fixer Judy Smith, it was always Shonda Rhimes’s insistence that the show’s lead be a black woman.
Dungey Shonda said she felt strongly that Olivia be black. It was inspired by Judy, and she wanted to honor that.
Rhimes Nothing felt more important than the sense of outsiderness. I didn’t know that there hadn’t been a drama series with a leading black woman for 37 years. When the show got picked up [to pilot], I got a phone call from somebody who said, “This would be the perfect show for Connie Britton.” I said, “It would be, except Olivia Pope is black.”
Linda Lowy, casting director The network was reading us their top choices, and it was Connie and all white women. I panicked. Somebody finally piped up, “We’re going to have to redo this list.”
Personally, I do not see the whole Connie Britton thing, perhaps because it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope. Every black actress in Hollywood was gunning for the chance to star in an ABC drama at the time of the casting. Gabrielle Union has talked about auditioning for the role and Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose were also tested before it became clear the role belonged to Washington.