I'm still holding out for an audience with Perry to discuss the film -- adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1976 choreopoem/play/"one of the most powerful literary works of this century" For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf -- and its wild-card status in this season's awards race. For now, however, we have the writer-director-actor-mogul in his own words, addressing the "Internet chatter" that Shange's work is borderline unadaptable for the screen and how his unprecedented ensemble of black actresses fared with the material. (Hint: Pretty well):
After reading the play a thousand times and listening to these poems a million times, it hit me. There was only one way to approach it. So what I did was, I put these characters in the situations around the poems, so that they could speak the dialogue of the book without it sounding like a poem. And I have to tell you, I wasn't sure that it could be done. But, after listening to Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, Macy Gray, Kimberly Elise, Tessa Thompson, Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose and Janet Jackson say these words it was awesomely seemless. [sic]
The stories are about eight women who live in NYC and we follow them through their lives; follow them through loving, losing, giving too much of themselves, being hurt and betrayed, but most of all, we follow each of these women as they find love for themselves.
This movie is powerful. It is incredible. The performances in it are astonishing, but most of all this film will leave you lifted.
I don't know if you know this either, but never in the history of a feature film has there been an ensemble of this many black women. That alone is worth celebrating. I hope you are planning to see it on November 5th.
By the way, you don't have to be a colored girl to be able to relate to and enjoy this movie.
Got that, Academy? Good.
ยท A Message From Tyler Perry [TylerPerry.com]