I happened to come across this recently. Forgive me if it was posted.

Apparently, he was supposed to be Chris Tucker's character from The Fifth Element movie (1997).

'One of those recycled anecdotes is this bit of 1990s movie casting lore: the fact that Prince almost played talk-show host Ruby Rhod in Luc Besson’s 1997 sci-fi cult favoriteThe Fifth Element, information the director reminded fans about over the weekend via Twitter. He also resurfaced some of the concept art for Prince’s proposed — and highly outrageous — costume from the movie’s designer Jean Paul Gaultier...'

https://www.yahoo.com/mov...48950.html

I wonder how often he was offered roles in movies/TV shows that he turned away? I had never heard of this prior to this week, but the character seemed a bit too "interesting" for him to play.

[Edited 1/14/17 4:34am]

Personally, I think Prince's take on the character would have been no where as near as over the top as Chris Tucker's was and that in and of itself would have changed the enitre dynamic of the character. For better or worse is the question, but I still would have like to have seen what could have been.

I don't think that's how the story goes. I think the director is changing his story up because Prince isn't around to deny his claims. Whenever I heard the story when Prince was alive it's that the director envisioned that role for Prince. Nobody ever said Prince was going to play or was ever interested in playing Ruby Rhod. Why would Prince play a transvestite especially around 97 when he was heavily into the JW's. Even if he wasn't a JW I don't see him playing a gay character...maybe if he changed the role up for his style but other than that I don't see it...but maybe I'm wrong about the story,but that's the way I always heard it back then.

[Edited 1/15/17 10:38am]

Prince was not an actor. He would've sucked at playing somebody else.

ludwig said:

Prince was not an actor. He would've sucked at playing somebody else.

.

If he would have allowed someone to direct him (as in Purple Rain), he'd have done well.

But our lil guy liked the control.

Look at those Batman videos he did. If there ever was a character he could have played well, it was The Joker.

.

laytonian said:

ludwig said:

Prince was not an actor. He would've sucked at playing somebody else.

.

If he would have allowed someone to direct him (as in Purple Rain), he'd have done well.

But our lil guy liked the control.

Look at those Batman videos he did. If there ever was a character he could have played well, it was The Joker.

.

yeah, he was great in those Batman videos!

dbpdexter said:

I don't think that's how the story goes. I think the director is changing his story up because Prince isn't around to deny his claims. Whenever I heard the story when Prince was alive it's that the director envisioned that role for Prince. Nobody ever said Prince was going to play or was ever interested in playing Ruby Rhod. Why would Prince play a transvestite especially around 97 when he was heavily into the JW's. Even if he wasn't a JW I don't see him playing a gay character...maybe if he changed the role up for his style but other than that I don't see it...but maybe I'm wrong about the story,but that's the way I always heard it back then.

[Edited 1/15/17 10:38am]

Have you seen the movie? From what I remember, Ruby Rhod wasn't gay (despite his mannerisms), he was sleeping with the stewardesses. They were exagerating the whole Prince/Morris Day femme but hetero pimp thing to the extreme.

Production on the movie started in 1995. (It's usually a safe bet to subtract two years off a movie's release date to figure out when it was actually cast and shot.)

The movie was in production when Prince was still in his macho nasty phase before the cussing stopped. Remember, he was saying "fuck" while on tour with Larry Graham in 1997 era concerts, I know because I saw him three times that year on the Jam of the Year Tour. They were playing Face Down with all the cussing.

The story is that Prince actually had a meeting with the famous clothing designer Jean Paul Gaultier for the role and there was a hilarious misunderstanding because of his accent. But imagine... it went as far as a meeting with wardrobe!

Here is an article from 2013 about that: http://io9.gizmodo.com/fi...1458143168

Prince's comedic timing in UTCM (minus the corny love story crap) would have been well used in the Fifth Element. After all, Tucker's performance is basically a hyperstylized spoof of Prince and MJ. Prince would have succeeded in that movie if he was willing to listen to direction and if the director was smart enough to encourage Prince to play up and exagerrate his own image. Imagine a hybrid of the voices he used in different songs, the "And that says what?" effeminate yet pimp like intonation from UTCM and the wiry physical energy of his funky joker in the Batman videos. If Bresson and Prince were collaborating well, it would have been great and probably less irritating than Tucker's version. He also could have brought a sexual energy to the role that Tucker didn't have.

funkaholic1972 said:

laytonian said:

.

If he would have allowed someone to direct him (as in Purple Rain), he'd have done well.

But our lil guy liked the control.

Look at those Batman videos he did. If there ever was a character he could have played well, it was The Joker.

.

yeah, he was great in those Batman videos!