Ryan Murphy wanted Justin Timberlake to play William Schuster – deadline

Justin Timberlakeas director of joy club?!?

That’s who Ryan Murphy originally had in mind when casting the pilot for Look, his hit drama for Fox. During his appearance on the first episode of the podcast And that’s what you REALLY missed Murphy admitted that he has someone else Matthew Morrison in mind when he first went to find his choir director, William Schuster.

“This pilot was written for Justin Timberlake, Mr. Shu,” Murphy first admitted to hosts Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, who starred in Look as Artie Abrams and Tina Cohen-Chang, respectively.

That’s the end of the episode, so anyone who wants more details will have to tune in next week.

Murphy also revealed that his Look co-creator Ian Brennan wanted Schuster to be – get it — a crystal addict in an earlier, darker version of the script. “It was kind of like an election, but an NC-17 version of a choir show with a weird protagonist who unravels,” Murphy said. “What I liked was the idea of ​​kids in high school … it seems like a show that works or television shows people who are going through it for the first time.”

The role of choirmaster eventually went to Matthew Morrison, who received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Shue in 2010.

McHale and Ushkowitz said they spent three hours talking with Murphy for their opening episode. The Uber producer admitted to the duo that he never talked in detail about the series, which aired from 2009 to 2015. He said the pilot took six months to write, and when he turned it in, then-Fox president Kevin Reilly said it was lacking badly. It was then that he added mood coach Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch.

Murphy did not hold back memories of those early years. He said one “high-powered” executive “at the Dockers” used the derogatory term to describe the show.

“There was a lot of homophobic fear of that show,” Murphy said.