Taraji P. Henson shared about testing for the role in an interview with Honey magazine in 2003, and she said, "Honey was written for Aaliyah. ... She passed, but they still wanted to do the project, and they wanted to stick with a black girl." Before Beyonce's album was pushed back, I suppose she was planning to tour that fall when the movie was scheduled to shoot, but it's hard for me to believe that Taraji and her agent(s) were misinformed along with all other industry people who never once brought up Beyonce's name with this film in the last 19 years.