When Terry McMillan's third novel, Waiting to Exhale, hit bookshelves three years ago, women of every color snapped up the hilarious pageturner (to the tune of three million copies) to rejoice in characters--Bernadine Harris, Savannah Jackson, Robin Stokes and Gloria Matthews--whose lives mirrored their own; women who were waiting to get their careers together, waiting for the weight to disappear from their hips, waiting for the men who finally take their breath away.
When Twentieth Century Fox snapped up the screenplay rights to McMillan's
tour de force, every Black actress on both coasts was waiting to exhale
for the almighty audition. Once Angela Bassett and Whitney Houston 
were signed
on to play Bernie and Savannah, respectively, director Forest Whitaker (of The
Crying Game fame) conducted the casting search of the century to fill
the high heels of sexy siren Robin Stokes. (Broadway Dreamgirls star
Loretta Devine won the role of single mother Gloria Matthews.)
This was the kind of career break that could skyrocket a Blacktress into
superstar stratosphere. Many working divas, however, couldn't get their
well-turned heels in the door for an audition with Whitaker. Neither could
ten-year acting veteran Lela Rochon-remembered mostly for her bit part in
Boomerang as the sister with the "hammertime toes" who beds Eddie
Murphy. In the end though, the little known Los Angeles-born beauty cleverly
beat out the competition anyway.
