Whoopi Goldberg accepted her role in Tony Goldwyn'S Esra without reading the script. The two actors knew each other because they starred together in the 1990s Ghost.
“If he says he has something, I don't care how other people react to it, I'm there,” Goldberg said of Goldwyn on Tuesday's episode of The viewwhere the actor guested alongside Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne.
Godberg played Oda Mae Brown, the medium who communicates with the spirit of Patrick Swayze Ghost (she won an Oscar for the role). Goldwyn was the antagonist, Carl Bruner, and Goldberg said this week that he is a “great partner.”
In EsraGoldberg plays the manager of Cannavale's character, a stand-up comedian struggling with co-parenting his autistic son. Byrne, Robert DeNiro, Rainn Wilson and others round out the cast. Goldwyn directed the film and also has a small on-screen role. The project premiered at last year's Toronto Film Fest and will now hit theaters this weekend.
“The vibe of the movie was, yes, I want to be a part of this,” Goldberg said this week when Goldwyn first asked her about it. “People usually don't ask me. So if someone says, “Hey, you wanna come play?” It's like, Yes!”
Explaining how he cast his friend in the project, Goldwyn said, “I literally just sent an email. Bobby and I were talking when the movie started coming out, we said, “You know who would be great… Whoopi. I just sent Whoopi an email saying, “Hey, I'm doing this movie with Bobby and Bob De Niro, there's a role you would be perfect for. Can I send you the script?' You wrote me right back and said, 'I'm in, just tell me where to show.' I said, 'Don't you want to read the script?' She said, 'No, I'm there. Just tell me where to go! ''