Exclusive: Paula Patton talks ‘Baggage Claim’By Wilson Morales
September 19, 2013
Coming out on September 27 and opening up the 2013 Urbanworld Film Festival is David E. Talbert’s latest film, ‘Baggage Claim,’ starring Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, Boris Kodjoe, Tremaine Neverson, Adam Brody, Jenifer Lewis, Ned Beatty, Lauren London, Tia Mowry, La La Anthony, Christina Milian, Affion Crockett, Terrence J, Rickey Smiley, and Djimon Hounsou.
Determined to get engaged before her youngest sister’s wedding, flight attendant Montana Moore (Paula Patton) finds herself with only 30 days to find Mr. Right. Using her airline connections to “accidentally” meet up with eligible ex-boyfriends and scour for potential candidates, she racks up more than 30,000 miles and countless comedic encounters, all the while searching for the perfect guy.
For Patton, this is another big role after appearing with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg this past summer in ‘2 Guns,’ and co-starring in the independent film ‘Disconnect.’
In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Patton talks about her role, her attraction to the project, and working with this big ensemble.
As the lead of the film and placed in almost frame of the film, how much pressure was that for you as an actress?
Paula Patton: I guess looking back at it, there was a lot of pressure, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t focus on that once I jump into the situation because it would paralyze me. I just put one foot in front of the other. I take everything I do very serious, whether it be a small role or a big role. I’m always going to give the exact same effort. You can’t think about it too much otherwise, you’d kill yourself.
Not only are you just acting, but you’re physically moving around with a lot of running.
PP: I think it came from ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ because I’ve always been athletic, and Tom Cruise does all of his own stunts and I’m a little bit competitive. If he was going to do his own stunts, then so would I. It made sense with this film. We’ve all gone through that felling of running through the airport. I wasn’t going to fake that.
What were your thoughts when David first came to you with the project and how was working with him?
PP: This was a movie that I wanted to do for years. It’s been an interesting process. I first got the script when I was doing a movie with Queen Latifah called ‘Just Wright’ and I wasn’t even pregnant yet and I laughed out loud. I brought my husband in, my best friend in, and did a table reading. I didn’t even have the role yet. I wanted it so badly. I then went in and met with David Talbert. It was a great meeting but the studio had some reservations. Maybe they felt that I hadn’t done enough work or what have you; and then I don’t all the details, but the movie fell apart. I was done with ‘Mission: Impossible’ pretty soon after I had finished shooting it and then I got a call because I kept asking about this movie. “What’s going on with ‘Baggage Claim?” I always wanted to know because it’s a rare thing for a black woman to be a star in a romantic comedy. It was so smart and well written. Finally I got the call that said they were going to make the movie and “David said that he only wants to make it with you.” I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is awesome.”
How was working with this big ensemble?
PP: We have to give thanks to all of the other actors because they bring so much and so many laughs to the movie, and they really make the movie work as a whole. You need these great actors to come in and play ball and they all came in with the “A” game. I’m very thankfully and blessed. Jill Scoot is so amazing and funny and so is Adam Brody. He’s playing the gay best friend in a unique way that you haven’t seen quite like that. Taye Diggs is just so awesome and you have Djimon (Hounsou), Boris (Kodjoe), and Derek Luke and Jennifer Lewis, who is so magnificent. There’s Lauren London and Tia Mowry. I loved Tia’s scene. It’s one of my favorite little bits in the movie. You need all of those people around for the film to work. Thank God for them.
This film has to do with love and friendship and can it work together. You and your husband (Robin Thicke) have known each other since the both of you were teenagers. If asked, how one get out of the friend zone to changing the status of the relationship?
PP: Sometimes people can be in a friend zone because of timing. You could be with someone and the other person isn’t. They could be with someone else and you might look at the person in a different light. I don’t know. If you are just a friend, you will be just a friend. But I have to say, persistence. Men that are persistent is interesting. When I first met Robin, I was attracted right away, but he called and called and he would make me laugh on the phone. He finally convinced me to go with a friend who could drive to take me to his house. It’s important not to stay a friend too long.
With ‘2 Guns’ recently shown in theaters and this film coming up, what does this do for you when you’re in theaters in last six months?
PP: It’s kind of crazy. I feel lucky and hopefully it does as well as we hope it would do, but we didn’t plan it that way and it just sort of happened. I just feel lucky.
What else do you want to do that we haven’t seen yet? Do you want to do a musical?
PP: I feel like there is so much. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the gift to sing. I could hold a note but they would have to give me a lot of help on that. That’s what I love about being an actress. I don’t want to play myself. Who I am is quite boring to be frank with you. I want to play as many different people as possible. With each role as you do the research, you get to become someone else and that’s what I love and the sky‘s the limit.
What was your favorite and most challenging scene in the film?
PP: I loved so many different scenes and the one that was most important to me and challenging to make sure that we got it right was the scene that I had with Jennifer Lewis. That mother-daughter talk and the way that it goes down was important to me. I wanted to make to sure it was the right tone and understand what that meant on both ends. The challenging part but really fun was the dancing scene with Derek Luke. Dancing to the New Edition song was hard. We trained for that scene for days and days. That was fun.
What’s a good reason for folks to see ‘Baggage Claim’?
PP: Go see ‘Baggage Claim’ because it’s a feel-good movie that will make you laugh and warm your heart and it’s definitely going to surprise you.
