Lee Daniels - Lee Daniels Asked Oprah To Play Masturbating Maid

Moviemaker Lee Daniels has revealed he originally asked Oprah Winfrey to portray a masturbating maid in new movie The Paperboy before handing the role to singer Macy Gray.

The Precious director, who is overseeing Winfrey's return to the big screen as Forest Whitaker's wife in The Butler, asked the Tv mogul if she'd like to portray the character of Anita in his racy new drama, opposite Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew MCConaughey - but she declined.

And Daniels can now only imagine what Winfrey would have brought to the role - and the scene.

He says, "Everybody has (their) own interpretation. She would have played it very stoic, you know, something very different. I think MACy Gray was the right choice after all."

Daniels admits he's very happy with MACy Gray's portrayal of Anita - because it's closer to what he learned about house servants growing up than those portrayed in 2011 movie The Help.

He adds, "I just didn't think that the maids were right (in The Help), because I had so many family members that were maids. I really wanted to tell my version."