Without 'Precious' we may never have been introduced to the wonderful acting talents of Gabourey Sidibe, and for that, we should all be thankful. We so nearly missed out on her though - the producers originally wanted a bigger name for the part, and turned to a proven commodity in Jennifer Hudson. Hudson got their intentions all wrong. She was in the process of losing weight, and made the mistake of thinking she was only being offered the part because of her size.
She'd later recount the tale in her autobiography, and offered some further reasoning. According to Hudson, she found the script for 'Precious' emotionally effective, but wasn't sure she wanted to do some of the things that her character would have been required to do on screen. Her loss was Sidibe's gain, but Hudson's star continues to shine brightly regardless.