Bruno Mars Wanted Only Freida Pinto for the video: Director

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And one of those late-night suggestions was the casting of actress Freida Pinto, whose turn as bad-bitch stripper Isabella has certainly had folks talking since the "Gorilla" video premiered on Tuesday. In hindsight, her addition to the video seems like a stroke of genius ... but Duddy admits that, at the time, he was having his doubts that she could pull off the role.

"I've got to tip my hat to Bruno for that one. We wanted to do a stripper, and we wanted a name, but there were no other names thrown around besides Freida Pinto," he explained. "And I said 'Aw man, she's so safe,it may be difficult if you go that route.' And he was like 'Listen dude, it's important to the video to use someone who hasn't been seen in this light before.' It was a gamble, and I wasn't all the way sure about it, but I trusted his instincts ...and he was right."

And once on set, Pinto threw herself into the role " "She's an actress, so for her, it was about grasping her character's background, and then getting up there and doing it," Duddy said " and even subjected herself to harm in one of the video's key scenes: when she sheds her clothes amongst a sea of sparks. Luckily, she came out unscathed ... though the same can't be said for members of Mars' band.