Broadcast Exclusively on IFC
Sunday, March 6, 2022
LOS ANGELES (December 14, 2021) – This morning, Film Independent announced nominations for the 2022 Film IndependentSpirit Awards. Film Independent President Josh Welsh introduced the prerecorded video announcements, which featured guest presenters Beanie Feldstein (The Humans, Impeachment: American Crime Story), Regina Hall (Nine Perfect Strangers, Girls Trip) and Naomi Watts (Penguin Bloom, upcoming The Watcher). Watch here:
Best Feature nominees include A Chiara, C’mon C’mon, The Lost Daughter, The Novice, and @zola. Also announced, for the second year, were the nominees of five TV awards. Nominees in the Best New Scripted Series category include Blindspotting, It’s a Sin, Reservation Dogs, The Underground Railroad, and We Are Lady Parts.
Mass was selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman, who was known for creating extraordinary ensemble casts.
Celebrating creative independence, original, provocative subject matter, diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision, the 37thFilm IndependentSpirit Awards will be held on Sunday, March 6, 2022, positioning it squarely in the corridor leading into Oscar voting. Returning to its home on the Santa Monica beach, the in-person show will be broadcast exclusively on IFC. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for the nonprofit Film Independent’s year-round slate of programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry.
“Congratulations to this year’s nominees – visual storytellers who have made the most original, daring and provocative film and television shows of the year,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “The Spirit Awards once again plants its flag on the beach at Santa Monica, and on IFC. We’re thrilled to be back and celebrating art that continues to inspire, enlighten and entertain us.”
Blake Callaway, GM of IFC, said, “The Spirit Awards is a standout event in any year. After being away for more than a year, IFC is ready to bring audiences back to the beach celebrating the best of film and television.”
This year the Spirit Awards Nominating Committees selected nominees from over 15 different countries, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, economy of means. The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees are comprised of writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. Of all nominated writers and directors, 44% are women and 38% are BIPOC. Of all nominated actors, 60% are BIPOC. And of all 2022 nominees, 46% are women and 32% are BIPOC. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 63% women, 5% Nonbinary and 56% BIPOC.
The Film IndependentSpirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor IFC; Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and Seedlip, the Official Spirits; and FIJI Water, the Official Water.
This Is Not a War Story
Writer/Director/Producer: Talia Lugacy
Producers: Noah Lang, Julian West
BEST DIRECTOR
Janicza Bravo, @zola
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Lauren Hadaway, The Novice
Mike Mills, C'mon C'mon
Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure
BEST SCREENPLAY
Nikole Beckwith, Together Together
Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris, @zola
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Mike Mills, C'mon C'mon
Todd Stephens, Swan Song
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., Wild Indian
Matt Fifer, story by Sheldon D. Brown, Cicada
Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern
Fran Kranz, Mass
Michael Sarnoski, story by Vanessa Block & Michael Sarnoski, Pig
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ante Cheng & Matthew Chuang, Blue Bayou
Lol Crawley, The Humans
Tim Curtin, A Chiara
Edu Grau, Passing
Ari Wegner, @zola
BEST EDITING
Affonso Gonçalves, A Chiara
Ali Greer, The Nowhere Inn
Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent, The Novice
Joi McMillon, @zola
Enrico Natale, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Isabelle Fuhrman, The Novice
Brittany S. Hall, Test Pattern
Patti Harrison, Together Together
Taylour Paige, @zola
Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One
BEST MALE LEAD
Clifton Collins Jr., Jockey
Frankie Faison, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Michael Greyeyes, Wild Indian
Udo Kier, Swan Song
Simon Rex, Red Rocket
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Amy Forsyth, The Novice
Ruth Negga, Passing
Revika Reustle, Pleasure
Suzanna Son, Red Rocket
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo, @zola
Meeko Gattuso, Queen of Glory
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Will Patton, Sweet Thing
Chaske Spencer, Wild Indian
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.
Mass
Director: Fran Kranz
Casting Directors: Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin
Ensemble Cast: Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Breeda Wool
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Award given to the director and producer.
Ascension
Director/Producer: Jessica Kingdon
Producers: Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
In the Same Breath
Director/Producer: Nanfu Wang
Producers: Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Jialing Zhang
Procession
Director: Robert Greene
Producers: Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, Douglas Tirola
Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Producers: David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Award given to the director.
Compartment No. 6 (Finland/Russia)
Director: Juho Kuosmanen
Drive My Car (Japan)
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas) (Spain)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Pebbles (India)
Director: P S Vinothraj
Petite Maman (France)
Director: Céline Sciamma
Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
Director: Tatiana Huezo
PRODUCERS AWARD
The Producers Award, now in its 25th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Brad Becker-Parton
Pin-Chun Liu
Lizzie Shapiro
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 28th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Alex Camilleri, director of Luzzu
Gillian Wallace Horvat, director of I Blame Society
Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 27th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Jessica Beshir, director of Faya Dayi
Debbie Lum, director of Try Harder!
Angelo Madsen Minax, director of North by Current
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Black and Missing
Series By/Executive Producers: Soledad O’Brien, Geeta Gandbhir
Executive Producers: Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez
The Choe Show
Creator/Exec Producer: David Choe
Executive Producers: Matt Revelli, Christopher C. Chen, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson
The Lady and the Dale
Executive Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Allen Bain, Andre Gaines, Nick Cammilleri, Alana Carithers, Zackary Drucker, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Nuclear Family
Series By: Ry Russo-Young
Executive Producers: Liz Garbus, Julie Gaither, Jon Bardin, Leah Holzer, Peter Saraf, Alex Turtletaub, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Lauren Haber, Maria Zuckerman, Christine Connor, Ryan Heller, Barbara Dobkin, Eric Dobkin, Andrea Van Beuren, Joe Landauer
Philly D.A.
Creators: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar
Produced By: Josh Penn, Michael Gottwald
Executive Producers: Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty Quillin
Co-Executive Producers: Nion McEvoy, Leslie Berriman
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Blindspotting
Creators/Executive Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Executive Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann
It’s a Sin
Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler
The Underground Railroad
Creator/Executive Producer: Barry Jenkins
Executive Producers: Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Richard Heus, Jacqueline Hoyt
We Are Lady Parts
Creator: Nida Manzoor
Executive Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Deborah Ayorinde, THEM: Covenant
Jasmine Cephas Jones, Blindspotting
Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad
Jana Schmieding, Rutherford Falls
Anjana Vasan, We Are Lady Parts
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Olly Alexander, It’s a Sin
Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus
Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls
Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game
Ashley Thomas, THEM: Covenant
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Reservation Dogs
Ensemble Cast: Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone
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It took nearly a decade and a half, but the entire core cast of 1999's hit dramedy The Best Man--which has only grown in popularity and esteem in those years since--and writer-director Malcolm D. Lee are finally all back for a much-anticipated reunion, The Best Man Holiday. On Saturday, November 2, Lee and cast members Monica Calhoun (Mia), Morris Chestnut (Lance), Melissa De Sousa (Shelby), Taye Diggs (Harper), Regina Hall (Candace), Sanaa Lathan (Robyn), Nia Long (Jordan), Harold Perrineau (Julian) assembled for a series of press conferences in Beverly Hills (Terrence Howard, who plays Quentin, was unable to participate) from which a candid, insightful, and entertaining first-person oral history of this project, from conception to fruition, could be pieced together.
Genesis
"Honestly, there was talk of doing a sequel, very early when the [first] movie first came out, but I wasn't interested in doing a sequel right away. I didn't want to get pigeonholed as a director. It was my first movie; I didn't want to do the same thing. My idea was if I was going to revisit these characters, and I thought I would want to, it would be like ten years later after they've lived some life, had kids, that kind of thing. At around late 2005 or so, I started percolating the idea. I would see the cast over the years and say I'm thinking about doing a sequel. It just got to a point where I was ready to do this now. I'd taken enough notes and put in enough of structure together where I said, 'Let me the cast together, and let's see what can happen.' I basically got them together in early 2011 and said, 'OK. Let's all get into the same room. At least we will have all caught up. I have an idea for a sequel, and if we all think at the end of this meal it's worth doing, then I'll pursue it.' So I pitched them the idea; they were all into it. They all l liked it, and they said, 'Let's go.' A couple of months later, I went to Universal, and I pitched them the idea, and we got it going. I mean, you know, it took a while to 'get it going.' I wrote the script pretty quickly because I'd been thinking about it for so long. It wasn't easy because as you've seen from the film, it's very different tonally speaking than the first one, and I think that was part of their hesitation of wanting to make it. That was by design. I did not want to do the same thing again; I didn't want to tell the same story. The things you think about in your mid-to-late 20s are very different than what you think about when you're in your late 30s or early 40s, when you're married and had children and have bills to pay and doing 'grown-up stuff' and dealing with 'grown-up things.' So I said to them that it's not about doing a destination wedding or anything like that. People love this movie because they love the characters; they love the people. They don't just love that it was a wedding. So it took us to bringing the cast together to do a read-through, and once we did the read-through, they were like, 'OK, we get it.' --Malcolm D. Lee
Re-assembling the Cast
"A couple of years ago, Malcolm actually got us all together. We went to BOA. He hadn't written the script yet, and he literally pitched at a loud restaurant, with lots of drinks flowing, moment by moment, beat by beat, the script. In that environment, which is very challenging for pitch, we were on the edge of our seats. And we all, at that moment, said, 'If you write it, we're going to do it.'" --Sanaa Lathan
"We all decided [to return] before Malcolm really finished the script. He kind of came to each one of us and said, 'Would you guys be interested in doing a sequel?' and we all decided if the script was great, and the story is there and the characters have grown, why not? And so that's basically what happened. It was pretty easy." --Nia Long
"We all obviously had a great time doing the first one. Great friendships and bonds were made, and we all kept those friendships. So at this dinner, it was great to see each other just on general principle, just great to see old friends that we haven't seen in a while. I think a couple of us knew possibly what Malcolm was going to come with. Then to hear him actually say it, and then to hear the story, and then to get together as a group with our collective energy and do what we all needed to do to get this project made has been a great experience." --Taye Diggs
"We all loved working with each other on the original. Obviously a lot of time has passed, but we all did go to dinner, and he talked about the storylines. He talked about where we were going to be in our lives, X amount of years later, and what were going to go through. Even at that point we were all, 'Yeah, it would be interesting, it would be great to get together and do this again.' But once we read the script, that just really solidified everything. The script really spoke to me." --Morris Chestnut
"The friends that met in college and stayed friends, to see them years later and how their lives have developed--I thought that would be interesting. I also thought Mia and Lance's journey, what they were going through would be interesting and challenging for me as an actress." --Monica Calhoun
That Table Read
"Some of the suggestions from the studio were like, 'This person's out of the picture already; maybe this person's dead already; maybe this person's divorced'--I was like, 'I brought the cast back together, and we were going to do this collectively, period. At least you've got to give this a fair shot.' So that's why we did the reading." --Malcolm D. Lee
"I stripped. I showed [the studio] where it could go. [laughs] No, we showed up, and we acted like we were really wanting to get this movie made. I think everybody came on their A-game. We read the whole script. For Melissa [De Sousa] and I, it was actually harder because we didn't have Harold [Perrineau], and when he wasn't at that table read, it was not the same. Even reading the script before we did the table read, you read lines and you hear the people's voices in your head. So to have a voice that doesn't resonate with what you know, with what Harold Perrineau would do, for us, we just missed him. " --Regina Hall
"I didn't make the table read. I was working in India [shooting Zero Dark Thirty]. I heard it was awesome though." --Harold Perrineau
"When we did the table read, and there was a reader for Harold. The guy that was reading his part was a good actor, but we were really missing him. To Regina I was like , 'We miss Harold,' and the guy heard me. And I was like, 'Oh God.' I was so terrible. [laughs] There's just something he brings to that character that just can't be replaced. No one can really fill that shoe." --Melissa De Sousa
Evolving Characters, Evolving Artists
"I feel like I know these characters very well; I've lived with them in my head for a long time. But when you evolve as a person, you have to have your characters evolve too. And not only that, my actors were great actors in the first movie, and they're even better now. I've grown as an artist, as a writer, as a director. I'm better, so I wanted to make something that was more sophisticated, something that spoke to these characters that would be similar to where they were but showed their growth. I don't think it was that difficult; it was a matter of just really knowing the characters and making them evolve. The actors had some input on what they felt, where they could be strengthened and layered. That was taken into account." --Malcolm D. Lee
"We were very vocal, so I know we were testing him though we were having a lot of fun. I know that we tested his patience, but he dealt with it well." --Sanaa Lathan
"I think we all evolved. We're all older. We're all more mature. We've all had more experience. We were all new, or at least I was, for the first one, so we weren't nearly as vocal. But now we've matured as actors, and we look at a script differently, and we challenged him on our character throughlines and whatnot and story structure. We all brought our life experiences to these roles. We've all been through our ups and downs, and that has affected us as people, as actors, and we were lucky in that we could apply that to these characters." --Taye Diggs
"I really wanted to see another side of Shelby. Everyone's like, 'Well, she's a bitch'--I didn't want to be one-note. I wanted to see her grow and go through changes and see emotions and see that she's human, not just for the comedy and for the laughs. She actually has real problems; she has a real life going on. I think we saw a different side. But she's still Shelby at the end of the day. She's still a bitch. [laughs] I did ask him to at least show a different color, and I think I did that." --Melissa De Sousa
"I fought for the hair. [Malcolm] did not want a short bob. He wanted long hair like [Candace] did in the first movie. And I said, 'No! You can't be a ho in the same city and not try to change your look up.' [laughs] 'I still live in New York. I'm married. I don't want people going--CANDY!' He was like, 'No,' but I was like, 'Trust me please; let me go shorter
for it.'" --Regina Hall
"I said less on this movie. On the first one I was more opinionated. In this one, after the first one, I was like, 'You know what? I'm just going to trust Malcolm. I'm just going to trust his genius and let him do his thing.'" --Harold Perrineau
Picking Up 14 Years Later
"When it came to these characters, I wanted to see where they left off. From the get-go, I just started writing notes. I wanted to set this movie at Christmastime because it's a cinematic time of the year, and it makes it a reason for being. If we're going to bring these characters together, it's got to be for a reason, so that was part of the impetus. For the characters, Harper was kind of on top of the world when we had left off. He had learned some things and been beaten down a little bit, literally and figuratively, but he was on his ascension. So now I was like, what if he has a couple of failed things? And Lance has this seemingly charmed life, and he does: he's about to break a record; he's got four beautiful children; there's this ginormous house, and this wonderful, beautiful, supportive, loving wife. But there's something that's going to test his faith even more than in the first movie. Then with the other characters, you try to give them conflicts and obstacles they have to get around. I've learned over the years to be a better writer and what characters are used for. So Quentin is going to be that button-pusher still, and he's going to give us the comic relief, and so is Shelby; they're going to be my comic fastballs. At the same time, they are more than what they were in the first movie. Quentin had a gentler side, a more merciful side, say, like when he prevented Lance from killing Harper in the first one, and it's a small moment in the first movie when Harper's getting emotional in the best man speech, Quentin touches his arm. I wanted to go further with that. I tried to write something sophisticated, challenging for myself, challenging for the actors because, again--why come back together? It wasn't for the money; this is not a money grab at all because we all did this for a price. It was about displaying their acumen as actors, mine as a director or writer, and kind of reintroducing ourselves to the world. The time was right, and we also knew there was a large fan base for this movie that really wanted to see these characters again, so let's give the people what they want." --Malcolm D. Lee
"Getting back into character wasn't so difficult. What was difficult was determining what her journey has been like for the last 15 years and making sure that I maintained certain things about Jordan in this new film. Just being really clear about what her emotional journey is was the most important thing." --Nia Long
"When Malcolm pitched the idea that [Robyn] was nine months pregnant, just in terms of a female vain perspective, I was like, 'Well damn. Like the whole movie?' [laughs] And it's not like it's three or four where it's cute--it's nine months. But I think that energy of 'well damn' is kind of what women feel like, so it kind of worked. I had to put on this huge belly. It was like a real belly. It was heavy. It made me hot. I waddled. You have to waddle; there was no walk that was put on. So it was a drag, but it worked for the character." --Sanaa Lathan
A Family Reunited
"The reunion was great. It was so fun. It didn't feel like work. We had so much fun and in between takes. I realized how sick and sadistic people are. Literally every day I would get about three punches in the belly, out of the blue. And they would just laugh. Malcolm would do it too. It was crazy! Something about knowing it wasn't real... so funny." --Sanaa Lathan
"Howling all the time. A lot of people laughing. Malcolm looking a little distressed--'We gotta go guys; we gotta go!' [laughs] It was a lot of fun, a lot of comedy, and Malcolm was so shorthanded." --Harold Perrineau
"[Malcolm] needed a lot of help wrangling us in, especially for the group scenes. " --Regina Hall
"We would have these roundtable discussions where they would always put our chairs together. The girls would be kind of grouped together, and the guys would be grouped together, and we would have some pretty intense conversations about everything, and we'd get into debates: love, relationships. We were like college kids sometimes in between takes. We were like bad children, but we got it done." --Nia Long
"I think the chemistry shows. You can choose to act it, or it can just be real, and obviously it always helps when it's real. You're able to look forward to the time when the cameras aren't rolling as well as the time when the cameras are rolling. It just makes the entire experience truly enjoyable when you spend all day on set and you all get to hang out afterward. It just worked out. I think we were just so blessed, lucky, fortunate, however you want to term it, with this experience. The fact that we got everybody together in the first place I think was miraculous, and then to have that type of script and then to have everybody mature the way that they did." --Taye Diggs
The Difficulties -- Practical, Physical, Emotional
"There's the pressure of the first movie, of living up to the first movie. That's huge pressure." --Sanaa Lathan
"For me, what I noticed this time around, as it pertains to Malcolm, were the outside pressures. I could tell this time around he had a lot more on his shoulders. So I would say that he has evolved in the sense that he was able to deal with a lot more pressure. He did it again with a lot more on his shoulders. He had a cast that had experience." --Taye Diggs
"Every scene that you see in the movie had the appropriate response behind the camera. It was all emotionally cathartic because they were very much in character and really committed to what they were doing. And there were other scenes that were just really difficult because we either didn't have enough time or the most difficult scenes were when they were all together, like the dinner scenes. Sanaa's Instagram-ing, and Terrence is like ad-libbing, and I'm like, 'Guys! We are running out of time here!' These are long scenes where you keep doing this dialogue over and over again. It's a challenge, and it's not just jokes and setting up punchlines; there's story that has to be woven in here. I need a look from you, and I need you to pause here... it's not always a fun process. It's incredibly difficult, especially given our very challenging schedule. We started shooting in April; we shot April and May. And then shooting the football also wasn't easy. But it was fun." --Malcolm D. Lee
"With this particular movie, it's 14 years later, and the character still needed to be playing football. So it was really challenging for me physically for me to be in great shape, and Malcolm said to me they wanted me to take my shirt off, and there were a couple of other explicit scenes that we didn't get to shoot. So it was tough for me emotionally and physically because I really couldn't eat. I lost a lot of weight for that movie just because I still had to portray the football player who was still in shape. But fortunately Malcolm gave me enough in this movie to where I could convey how far I feel that I've come and am still growing as an actor. It was really challenging even when I first read the script. It's really hard to do these emotional things on an ensemble movie because everyone's talking about, 'Yeah, we had a good time last night, and tonight we're going to go to the club!' And I have to be over in my little corner just focusing on what I need to do to get to that place, but Monica and I were there together, so I think it worked." --Morris Chestnut
"We still had fun, but it was tough. The emotional scenes were tough, but they were easy to get to for some reason because we are such good friends behind the scenes. We've known each other for over 15 years now. So we actually feel a bond. We could all go there because we all are really close even off set. Then the emotional work between Regina and I, that was a lot of fun to do. We had fun with it but we really worked hard on that [fight] scene. We didn't want it to look like just some ghetto madness. We didn't want it to look like it didn't come from someplace real. We didn't want it to be like the [Real] Housewives for real. We wanted to layer it up and really make it believable that we really would go there, not just for no reason. We had rehearsals, stunt doubles and everything. But behind the scenes we were laughing. I'm like, 'Regina, I'm supposed to hate you. Stop making me laugh.'" --Melissa De Sousa
"It's a testament to how good [Regina and Melissa] are as actresses because you really have to trust each other in order to be able to go that far and feel those things and then be able to let them go. And you can see that they really trust each other, they work well together. They're just amazing actresses." --Harold Perrineau
Can You Stand a Dance Number?
"Jamal Sims, our choreographer, is amazing. Any dance movie you've seen in the past ten, fifteen years, he's been involved with, any stellar dance sequence in a movie; we worked together on Soul Men. Jamal tried to get to work with [the male cast] in pre-production; that didn't work out. We tried to get them to come out like two weeks before or two weekends before; we couldn't schedule it. It was literally the Saturday before; we were going to shoot this on a Monday. Saturday all day they were in a dance studio working their tails off, and they were so into it and so excited. Then they did a little bit more on Sunday. But they were nervous! They were really nervous about the women watching them. They were like, 'Let's not have them there!' I said, 'No! It's going to fuel you; it's going to be good; it'll be more natural too!' So it was a lot of fun to shoot that. You see it's so joyful, beautiful, fun. They were down with it, especially Taye and Harold. They were so excited because they're both classically trained dancers. Morris was the one who was like, 'I need a lot of extra help.' That was a fun scene to shoot. --Malcolm D. Lee
"Harold Perrineau. That dude can move. He went to Alvin Ailey, and he's a fierce dancer. Taye's actually a really good dancer as well. So they gave us some videotapes to watch; the choreographer didn't come until like two days before we shot the film. So we all went on a Saturday. Terrence was late, came in for about 30 minutes and left. [laughs] So I was just trying to get the moves down, and then on that Sunday, I had to call [Harold] and say I needed some more help because it just doesn't come easy to me. Nothing in this movie came easy to me. This was some work." --Morris Chestnut
"This was another way Malcolm was really brilliant. I have a stage background, but for me stage is a lot more nerve-wracking than film acting because not matter what, you're in front of people. In film acting, you have control. If we're shooting a scene, and it's private or emotional, you can say that you don't want anybody in the room except the cinematographer and director. So it's less nerve-wracking doing film. But with this dance sequence, Malcolm said, 'Be on your stuff because I'm going to film it in a way where the girls are going to be watching you.' There was a level of performance that we had to take into account because we wanted them to think we were good. So we were nervous--at least I was. I wanted to make sure that we had the counts and whatnot. And it worked, and it helped, and when we filmed it, seeing them and getting that live, real energy. So that was great." --Taye Diggs
"The first time we saw it was real time reactions. Those reactions you see in the movie are real. They turned into like seven-year-olds. First of all, they had dance rehearsal; it wasn't that simple. Taye has a dance background. Literally in between takes for weeks they would be like, [snaps fingers] 'OK, and five, six, seven, eight...' [laughs] They were so excited. This was like their debut at Alvin Ailey!" --Sanaa Lathan
The Legacy
"The reason why he have so many women who love The Best Man brand is because they can look at the film and almost point themselves out or at least say, 'I'm a combination between Jordan and Shelby, or Robyn and Mia.' As an actor, you don't get those opportunities to really work alongside other great women, and that's such a blessing. When's the last time in a film when you've seen four African-American women that are actually all in the same movie? It doesn't happen all the time." --Nia Long
"I think it's important for us to see ourselves reflected in all that we are instead of just one type of genre. I think it's really important for the artform of film to reflect the world that we live in and who we are. I think that hasn't really done that for people of color. We've come a long way, and we still have a ways to go. But that's why I think a movie like the first Best Man resonates so much is because people are hungry for stories that are layered and they can recognize themselves and their family and their friends and things that they're going through, people that look like them." --Sanaa Lathan
"It was 14 years ago when we made the original. Fourteen years in Hollywood and to still be able to make a film that you're proud of and be relevant in Hollywood--it really doesn't happen. So I'm just proud, and hopefully I will be proud when the box office numbers come out. [laughs] Even if the numbers don't come to what we expect, I'm just proud to be a part of this film and just be able to have the impact and do what we did in the movie." --Morris Chestnut
Still More Unfinished Business...?
"If they want to do a third one, I would love to. That means this one did very well in order for us to do it." --Morris Chestnut
"We have to see how this one's going to perform first. That will dictate whether a third one gets made or even gets talked about. But there's some whispers. I have an idea [for a third film]; let's put it like that. I will not wait another 15 years. [laughs] If it happens at all, it will happen quickly. I also had the idea, if this movie were to be successful, to do a [television] series that would take place from the end of the first movie until the second movie, that 14-year span. That might be an interesting television show, but then how do you cast that too? It's possible. We'll see." --Malcolm D. Lee
The Best Man Holiday opens in cinemas nationwide today, Friday, November 15, from Universal Pictures.
The idea of a film based on Steve Harvey's bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man sounds more than a bit dubious; after all, a narrative feature based on what is essentially a self-help book? But with Think Like a Man, director Tim Story and screenwriters Keith Merryman and David A. Newman have unlocked the material in as cinematic a way as ideally possible. They go beyond merely using the title as a springboard for a premise (like, for instance, He's Just Not That into You) and consistently calling back to the source in a way that made sense to the plot lines, fashioning it into basically another character--and Harvey's book is the troublemaker of the ensemble that shakes up the romantic status quo for most of the rest of the canvas: The Player (Romany Malco), The Mama's Boy (Terrence J), The Dreamer (Michael Ealy), The Non-Committer (Jerry Ferrara); and their respective matches, The 90-Day Rule Girl (Meagan Good), The Single Mom (Regina Hall), The Woman Who Is Her Own Man (Taraji P. Henson), and The Ring Girl (Gabrielle Union). Acting as bemused bystanders most of the way are The Happily Married Guy (Gary Owen) and, most notably, The Even Happier Divorced Guy (Kevin Hart), who narrates and comments on all the intergender byplay and--perhaps more accurately--warfare.
Those assigned labels are not my own snarky, reductive invention. While this is another of the wave of large ensemble rom-coms where everyone generally falls into an identifiable character type, making for a conveniently, if not always realistically, varied canvas to follow, Story and the writers not only acknowledge but rather proudly own such a contrivance/convention from the jump, from Hart's introductory voiceover identifying the guys to even title cards identifying each pairing. This also nicely serves to solidify the connection with the source material, taking types from the book and thus having certain scenarios from it play out in storylines in the film proper. Of course, mere self-awareness of the types and formulae don't make compelling viewing alone. There needs to be the right actors to bring them life and personality, and across the board everyone fits their part like a
glove, both in ways that fit their established wheelhouses (such as the jovially wisecracking Hart) or show sides they had not yet had the opportunity to do so on screen (such the gifted Henson, finally getting an opportunity to fulfill her Glamorous Romantic Leading Lady destiny; relative big screen newcomer Terrence, who is a bit of a revelation; Chris Brown, in an amusingly goofy turn).
Even more crucial, however, is the chemistry between the actors, and in terms of both the romantic couples and the camaraderie between the guys and girls, and on both counts the film gets it right, having both the agreeable, infectious sense of humor and genuine, welcoming likability and therefore investment. Also helping immeasurably is that the flavor of each duet, much like the character types, have their distinctive flavor and appeal. Union and Ferrara have the believable, warmly "lived-in" energy of a pair that's been together for what feels like forever (a nice costuming touch is having her often wear clothes that are clearly his). On the opposite end are Henson and Ealy, bringing the intense erotic heat of immediate, impetuous passion while also forging a palpable connection that could serve as a foundation for something deeper. Lying between those two are the very cute Terrence/Hall coupling, who easily convince that there would be a genuine and substantial rapport despite their differences in age and circumstance; and the sexual suppression and resulting tension of the Malco/Good pairing makes for choice comic moments and a satisfying, cathartic release as their relationship blooms into something neither of them planned nor expected.
Bringing it all together is Story, and as he showed in the original Barbershop, he not only knows how to bring balance to such an expansive multi-character and -story piece but also make every thread feel part of a cohesive whole. No one story nor character dominates (though, naturally, there are scene/movie stealers--and the timing could not be more perfect for Hart, coming off of the box office success of Laugh at My Pain, and more than likely this will be the big springboard for a proper, major starring vehicle for his considerable comic talents), and everyone gets a chance to shine, whether comically or dramatically or both. Story's able, indispensable guidance is almost certain to be underrated, given how this is of the most notoriously formula of genres and hence is more notably personality/actor-driven. But one need only look at Garry Marshall's recent twin fiascoes of holiday-themed ensemble rom-coms, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, to see just how such a film requires a strong, careful directorial hand--which, ultimately, is how and why Think Like a Man ends up being one of the best mainstream date movies to come out in recent memory.
