We absolutely adore our girl, ‘The Boss’ Ms. Ross, she’s one of the best to have EVER done it, but we’ve got to keep it real with y’all: It was her. Do you knock Diana’s hustle and dedication for this film though? See what I’m talking about below…

Here is a breakdown of all the things that happened behind the scenes, as a result of Diana laying down her law on set, during pre-production and everywhere else in between…

Stephanie Mills was blindsided and jacked by Diana Ross for role
As we all know, it was Stephanie Mills who was killing it on Broadway in her role as “Dorothy” in The Wiz. The stage play premiered on Broadway on January 5, 1975 and it won a Tony Award for best musical score. After it was all said and done, Stephanie and her fellow cast members had racked up 1,672 performances! Geesh! This is why studio execs thought it would be great to sign up Stephanie Mills for the role and therefore it was promised to her…originally. Then Diana stepped in and here’s what happened next…

Diana tries to convince her man/boss to give her the role
Berry Gordy originally wanted the teenaged future R&B star, Stephanie Mills, to be cast as “Dorothy.” Berry and Diana were in a serious relationship at that time, so Diana sat down for a lil’ heart to heart with her man to try to convince him to ax the idea Stephanie playing “Dorothy” and give her the role instead. When Diana asked Berry if she could be cast as “Dorothy,” he was like ‘No way,’ stating that he felt that Diana—then 33 years old—was too old for the role.

On a side note: Stephanie Mills and Michael Jackson were dating at the time and it’s often been alleged that Diana and MJ dated at some point later (we have no factual proof to back that up though). It just make you wonder if there was…