Development
Naomi was created by Shonda Rhimes, who wanted the show's central character Addison to have a close friend from her college days. The character is based on a friend of Rhimes', who "married her college sweetheart and is strong and smart and funny." Naomi was played by Merrin Dungey in the backdoor pilot episode "The Other Side of This Life", but was replaced by Audra McDonald prior to the show's first season. Rhimes explained that the production team "wanted to put an edge on Naomi that we could define more clearly." McDonald assessed that Dungey's dismissal was hard as a result of its having been so public, but commented that she herself had once been similarly replaced, having played Bill Cosby's daughter in the pilot episode of Cosby, only to be replaced thereafter.
Read more about this topic: Naomi Bennett
Famous quotes containing the word development:
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“Ultimately, it is the receiving of the child and hearing what he or she has to say that develops the child’s mind and personhood.... Parents who enter into a dialogue with their children, who draw out and respect their opinions, are more likely to have children whose intellectual and ethical development proceeds rapidly and surely.”
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