WARREN BEATTY - BEATTY TRIED TO GET GRANT AND ALI FOR HEAVEN CAN WAIT

BEATTY TRIED TO GET GRANT AND ALI FOR HEAVEN CAN WAIT

WARREN BEATTY attempted to coax pal CARY GRANT out of retirement to play angel MR JORDAN in cult film HEAVEN CAN WAIT. It wasn't the only ambitious casting plan director Beatty had for the movie - he asked boxer MUHAMMAD ALI to play the lead. Both Grant and Ali turned the film down, leaving JAMES MASON and Beatty himself to take the roles they were offered. Beatty recalls, "He (Grant) said he was flattered but that he was too old to go around tripping over film cables. "I originally wrote the lead for Muhammad Ali, and he thought about it for a long time but then said no. So I decided to do it." Beatty tells GQ magazine that he has always had quirky casting ideas, admitting he only agreed to star in BONNIE + CLYDE after he couldn't persuade BOB DYLAN to play the lead.