Tyler Perry known for “…churning out populist money-making vehicles that get slammed by critics for playing on stereotypes and going for cheap laughs and easy sentiment” (The Wall Street Journal) is breaking out of that mold with an adaptation of the Tony-nominated play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. The all-star cast includes Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine and Kerry Washington.

On the movie news site Deadline, Nikki Finke predicts that the producer, Lionsgate, “…doesn’t begin to understand yet what a PR nightmare will surround [the movie]” and says that even Oprah didn’t want him to do it (although now that she’s seen it, she’s given it her blessing), because as a black man, he cannot understand the black female experience that the play explores.

Doesn’t seem to be a problem for the women in the cast. It’s hard to imagine Whoopi Goldberg joining the project if she didn’t believe in it.

Below is the trailer; originally scheduled for January, it now debuts on Nov. 5, making it eligible for the Oscars. UPDATE: The publisher tells us that the release date has been moved up to Nov. 2.

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The tie-in is still showing a Dec. release date; expect it to be moved up, also.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 at 12:50 pm and is filed under 2010 - Fall, Books & Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.