Boots Riley helmed the well-received film Sorry To Bother You, which stars LaKeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. The film mixes political discourse with sci-fi storytelling, and crafts the perfect look at capitalism. Before Riley cast Stanfield as Cassius "Cash" Green, he had two other actors in mind. As reported by Vulture, Riley spoke to Doreen St. Félix at the Directors Guild theater Saturday night and admitted Donald Glover and Jordan Peele were his first two choices.
"The first person of note that was helping us get financing, who said they wanted to play the lead was actually Jordan Peele," revealed Riley. "Then he directed Get Out and was like, ’I don’t want to act anymore." That makes sense, seeing as how lauded Get Out was. “The next person was Donald Glover, and he said, ‘But I might get this job in Star Wars, and maybe you can wait until after that and after Atlanta season two. I was like, ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen to the money by then,'" admitted Riley.
After Riley got off the phone with Glover, Stanfield's manager gave him a call. “Ten minutes after he hung up the phone, Lakeith’s manager called me, saying, ‘You need to meet with Lakeith.’ ”