Comedian Artie Lang was offered a role in the film via text message while hosting his late-night sports talk show. The following night, he turned down the role, trashing Will Smith and the film's screenplay at length in the process, because the character he was asked to play was "a five hundred pound Persian" named "Fatass Farhad." Similar incident happened to comedian Omid Djalili who starred in Whoopi, Gladiator, The Mummy and The Infidel. He was also not prepared to put on the weight required for the character of 'Fatass Farhad'.