Golden, Tim, via The New York Times. "Bonfire Controversy Fueled By Satiric Touch", News & Record, December 21, 1990. Accessed July 8, 2022. "Warners paid off Arkin's six-figure contract and promptly hired Morgan Freeman, who had been considered earlier, to play the part as a black judge named Leonard White. 'I didn't want to racially polarize it,' De Palma, 50, explained. 'I didn't want a white judge talking morality to a basically black audience.'"