Tyler Perry debuts a new Madea comedy this week, but as he tells Movieline in a forthcoming interview, he's been itching to put the the fat suit and lady dress in his rear-view. Will his turn in the mainstream action film Alex Cross — as a husband and special agent in a cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer — be a successful attempt by Perry to branch out beyond his niche audience? Watch as Perry goes mano-a-mano with LOST's Matthew Fox, who's undergone some changes of his own, in the first trailer for the James Patterson adaptation.
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You I asked for it, you got it: The first poster for Madea's Witness Protection, which finally brings Tyler Perry's muumuued menace to Manhattan. It's about time! Also: Who invited Eugene Levy? This isn't an Olsen twins movie, for Christ's sake.
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Wednesday morning's news roundup includes a fire at Tyler Perry's studios in Atlanta, an AMPAS celebration for Gene Kelly's centennial and a rare screening of the first Oscar-winner, Wings. The Hunger Games partners form a new label, Fandor plans a new indie news site and Justin Bieber's manager joins a doc spotlighting America's school dropout crisis.
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The Trayvon Martin incident inspired Tyler Perry's latest blog post, which is like whoa: "As I stepped out of the car another officer pulled up in front of my car. This officer was a black guy. He took one look at me and had that Oh No look on his face. He immediately took both officers to the back of my car and spoke to them in a hushed tone. After that, one of the officers stayed near his car while one came back, very apologetic. I said all of that to say this: do you see how quickly this could have turned for the worse?" Related: Why does Tyler Perry drive himself to the airport? So many questions. [TylerPerry.com]
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel's tradition of filming a post-Oscar movie-related spoof continued Sunday night with a "trailer" for Movie: The Movie, the ultimate star-studded epic to end all epics. In addition to featuring a host of stars, from Taylor Lautner to Helen Mirren to Tyler Perry (er, "Daniel Day-Lewis as Tyler Perry as George Washington"), the Kimmel-produced gag covered just about every genre and trope known to the movies. I give it a few years before some suit turns this into a reality.
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Tyler Perry doesn't don drag or delve into religion in his latest, Good Deeds — the film isn't part of the prolific entertainment giant's Madea franchise (next stop Madea's Witness Protection, slated for later in 2012), but rather of his less broad line of feel-good dramedies like Daddy's Little Girls and Why Did I Get Married? But despite the restrained tone, it's no less savvy an entertainment, one that Perry wrote, directed and stars in as San Francisco businessman Wesley Deeds, the wealthy, perfect son of a good family, head of the company his father created. Wesley's life changes when he meets Lindsey (Thandie Newton), a beleaguered single mom who works as the night janitor in his office building.
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"I’ll keep this short and sweet because it's been a rough 12 days for me, with what would have been my mother’s 67th birthday one day and the awful news about Whitney the next. I can’t even think about it... we’ll talk about that some other time, but for now I just want to be sure you’re planning on going to the movie theaters to see Good Deeds this weekend." [TylerPerry.com]
"We loved the witness protection concept from the second we heard it, but when Tyler cast comedy icon Eugene Levy and put him under the same roof with Madea and Uncle Joe, he took this movie to a whole new level." [Coming Soon]
“I’m retiring,” Star Wars media emperor George Lucas recently told the NY Times, having toiled through today's difficult indie film climate to get his ambitious Red Tails into theaters. “I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.” Or, as Lucas producer Rick McCallum put it: “Once this is finished, he’s done everything he’s ever wanted to do. He will have completed his task as a man and a filmmaker.” Say it ain't so, George! Wait, what's that? It's not really the end? Oh, you tease.
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Say what you will about the films of Tyler Perry, at least he has an ethos. Good messages (well, the overt ones about living reasonable lives and personal responsibility) are what he's about, and he doesn't need to wear Madea's signature muumuu in order to beat us over the head with them. For the latest dose of the master's philosophizing I present the trailer for next February's Tyler Perry's Good Deeds -- or, as we call it around these parts, The Perry.
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A Very Movieline Thanksgiving continues! Like Louis Virtel and Julie Miller, I'm quite grateful for the cinematic discoveries that came my way in 2011. Raise your glass along with me as I give thanks to five of the movie-related things that kept me going this year, including the sweet sounds of the Baby Goose, the best film fest-karaoke super fun time of the year, and -- yes -- Tyler Perry.
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So much went down here at Movieline HQ in the week leading into Halloween 2011, including the revelation that nobody loves Halloween more than Heidi frickin' Klum. And nobody loves arguing over the vocal stylings of patriotic Hollywood starlets more than Movieline readers! (We love you. Don't ever change.) Throw on some blue face paint and fangs and six extra arms and reminisce as we traipse into the Halloween weekend!
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This week's new feature Anonymous is alluring for two reasons: It explores the possibility that Shakespeare didn't write his masterworks, and it looks unintentionally hilarious. If I could dress up for Halloween as Vanessa Redgrave's line-reading of "None of your plays will ever carry your name," I would. In tribute to this dubious drama, let's explore what the Bard's plays would sound like if they were written or retooled by current auteurs. Ready for Why Did I Get Jealous Too?
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Movieline hero Tyler Perry may be busy filming I, Alex Cross and blogging to his choir, but his wisdom never ceases to spread throughout the land, as in trailer for Lionsgate's holiday-timed DVD and Blu-ray release of A Madea Christmas. Hallelujer!
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Happy 42nd birthday, Tyler Perry! What better way to celebrate than by being named "entertainment's highest paid man" by Forbes? And to everyone else, I am sorry to inform you that to earn said title, Tyler Perry banked $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011. Ahead, Movieline parses Perry's windfall to give us some perspective on Madea's moneyed maker.
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