Hollywood actor Mahershala Ali who starred in the 2008 David Fincher film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, says he only agreed to do the movie if he would not have to do a sex scene with actress Taraji P. Henson who also starred in the movie.
Speaking on Common’s Mind Power Mixtape podcast, he said: “So my old agent called me and said, ‘Mahershala, you got the part.’ And I said, ‘There’s just one thing … There is that one sex scene where they kiss … If there’s a sex scene, I can’t do it.’ ”
TARAJI P. HENSON SPLITS FROM FIANCE
Ali is Muslim and told his agent: “I don’t do simulated sex.”
He continued: “Taraji and I begin to kiss, and we fall out of the frame … It wasn’t clear if [Fincher] was trying to have like some bumping and grinding … which I doubt he was. But for me even … at that time, 15 years ago, I was still like, ‘OK, I can only go up to this point,’ just because of — just trying to hold a space of respect for my religion.”