Red-haired, frail and freckled was how the character of Solomon in ”The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” was first imagined. But as soon as Ernie Hudson read Amanda Silver`s script, he wanted the part.
So what if Hudson has dark hair, is athletic looking and is black?
”I got hold of the script by accident,” recalls Hudson, best known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the two ”Ghostbusters” films. ”I told my agent that I had to get in for a reading. It took me two or three weeks to finally get a meeting. I felt that if I could go into a meeting, I could convince the powers that be. I just felt that I was right for this role.”
Three screen tests and 2 1/2 months later, the executives at Disney`s Hollywood Pictures agreed.
”The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” which opened Friday, stars Rebecca DeMornay as an evil nanny and Annabella Sciorra as the mother whose family is nearly destroyed by this seemingly perfect au pair. The part of Solomon is integral to the story; he`s a mildly retarded handyman who first appears as a threatening figure outside the kitchen window but who ends up, well . . . he ends up being integral to the story.
Although Hudson convinced director Curtis Hanson at their first meeting, the folks at Disney were hesitant. Where once there was the chance of alienating advocates for the mentally disabled, now there was the possibility of offending two groups.
”A lot of people could get very upset,” Hudson explains. ”If you play it too heavy, you`re in danger of not only not being convincing, but offending mentally handicapped groups at the same time. But if you don`t go strong enough with it, there are many black groups who could take offense. What are you saying about the black man if you don`t make it very clear that he`s handicapped?”
