While Tyler Perry isn’t that well known over here, largely because his films rarely get released in the UK, in the US he’s one of the top African American writer/directors, who has made hundreds of millions by bringing his characters and plays to the big screen. Despite widespread critical derision, his movies routinely hit the top of the US charts, resonating with African American audiences who love both his movies and his most famous character, Madea (who Perry plays in a dress).
However Lionsgate, which has been behind many of his movies, is now trying to get him to stretch his wings. Up until now he’s been given a fairly free hand to turn his own creations into movie, but now he’s been tapped to write, produce and direct an adaption of the 1975 play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.
We presume they’re going to shorted the title before is appears on cinema screens, but it’s an interesting move, especially as the play isn’t the normal sort of thing you’d think would get a film adaptation. Variety describes it as being a series of 20 poems telling stories of love, abandonment, domestic abuse and other issues faced by black women.
The project was originally meant to be directed by Nzingha Stewart, but she’s now dropped out. It’s an interesting decision for Perry, who recently signed one of the best deals in Hollywood, which basically gives him free reign to do whatever he wants, as long as it doesn’t cost too much, and the first film he’s decided to make under the deal will also be his first film not based on his own material.
The film will start filming this November, although as so many of Perry’s movies have failed to make it over to the UK, it’s tough to know whether this will get a British release – although as it’s something a little different, it probably will.