{"id":66196,"date":"2013-07-19T13:22:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T13:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2013\/07\/19\/the-best-man-holiday-set-visit-terrence-howard-and-harold-perrineau\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T09:13:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T09:13:36","slug":"the-best-man-holiday-set-visit-terrence-howard-and-harold-perrineau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/the-best-man-holiday-set-visit-terrence-howard-and-harold-perrineau\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Man Holiday Set Visit – Terrence Howard and Harold Perrineau"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Best Man Holiday Set VisitTerrence Howard and Harold Perrineau<\/strong>
\nBy Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

July 19, 2013<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On a fairly cold evening in Toronto this past May, Blackfilm.com, and a handful of other colleagues, got a chance to visit the set of the upcoming \u2018The Best Man Holiday,\u2019<\/strong> the sequel to the 1999 hit film directed by Malcolm D. Lee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After nearly 15 years, the whole cast (Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Harold Perrineau, Regina Hall, Melissa De Sousa<\/strong>, and Monica Calhoun<\/strong>) is back in a new story that reunites the characters we have all come to love.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t been told much of the plot except that \u201cwhen the college friends finally reunite over the Christmas holidays, they will discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be ignited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universal Pictures had us come up when the entire cast would be shooting a scene together. Standing behind director Malcolm Lee, we saw several takes of Nia (playing Jordan) and Eddie Cibrian first arriving at the house owned by Lance Sullivan (played by Chestnut), while the group is gathered in the living room catching up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cibrian is playing Jordan\u2019s boyfriend judging from the trailer that went online recently.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, we were taken to one of the rooms where members of the cast would come in and chat about reuniting with the cast, and revisiting their characters.<\/p>\n

For Howard, the film represents a chance to revisit the character (Quentin Spivey) that made him star. Although he had been in the business for some time before the film, playing Quentin gave him the opportunity to be seen as sexy and funny. His performance garnered him a NAACP Image Award as well as several other nominations. Soon afterwards, Howard\u2019s career skyrocketed with other roles, including his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in \u2018Hustle and Flow.\u2019<\/strong> Recently seen \u2018Dead Man Down\u2019<\/strong> with Colin Farrell<\/strong>, Howard will be seen in a slew of films, including Lee Daniels\u2019 The Butler,<\/strong> \u2018Prisoners\u2019<\/strong> with Hugh Jackman <\/strong>and Viola Davis<\/strong>, and \u2018Ten\u2019<\/strong> with Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/strong> and fellow \u2018Best Man\u2019 Harold Perrineau<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Perrineau first gained attention as the male lead of Wayne Wang <\/strong>and Paul Auster<\/strong>\u2019s film, \u2018Smoke,\u2019 <\/strong>which he received an Indie Spirit Award nomination. While he then went to play Mercutio opposite Leonardio DiCaprio<\/strong> in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s \u2018Romeo and Juliet,\u2019 <\/strong>it was the role of Julian Murch that got the Brooklyn native noticed within the African American community. He has since played other memorable characters such as Link in \u2018The Matrix Reloaded\u2019<\/strong> and \u2018The Matrix Revolutions\u2019<\/strong> and Damon Pope on FX\u2019s \u2018Sons of Anarchy.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we last Quentin and Julian, Julian found the courage to leave his longtime girlfriend Shelby (played by Melissa De Sousa), whom ended sharing a bed with Quentin after the wedding of Lance and Mia.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s it been coming back? Is it like summer camp or high school?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harold Perrineau:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know about high school, but it certainly been fun. High school wasn\u2019t fun at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Terrence Howard:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know about y\u2019all, but I spent high school in reformatory. I didn\u2019t like high school. With these people, I like them.<\/p>\n

When speaking with Malcolm Lee, he said he wouldn\u2019t do the film if we couldn\u2019t get everyone back. Did it a take from you guys individually to say \u201cI\u2019m in\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> Hell no. I miss my man.<\/p>\n

HP: <\/strong>Me too. Nothing at all. I haven\u2019t worked with this man in a long time. I was ready to come back in.<\/p>\n

How do you think the perception, reception, and interest in black love and black life has changed from when the original film was created?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> I love me some black.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> I actually don\u2019t think black love has changed. The reception has always been the same. How we see it in the media is something else. What has changed is the perception of black people. Being more diverse is the difference. That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s really happening now. It\u2019s being recognized as whole human beings.<\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> I\u2019m seeing the whole process of making the whole human being the conception of black love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems that most of the male characters in the film are married, except for yours. Is that the case here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> I think I\u2019ve graduated. I\u2019ve been married and divorced three times.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re talking about your character.<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH: <\/strong>Oh. Here\u2019s what I say. How old was Isaac when he got married? Isaac was 40 years old before a wife was brought to him. Moses was 47 before he got his wife and 80 before he was ready to lead God\u2019s people. Quentin has time. He\u2019ll live forever.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> The rest of us are just rushing it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How have your characters changed over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think we\u2019re the opposite of each other.<\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> We\u2019re juxtaposed in a sense to each other, but harmonic in a strange way. Harold is the other side of my side, but we\u2019re always are the same side of the coin at the same time.<\/p>\n

HP: <\/strong>We\u2019re really are one. This is the unit that is tight and always stays together. I don\u2019t think it has changed. I think they loved each other before and love each other now. That\u2019s the thing about this movie that is beautiful. It\u2019s about friendship. They are friends that are in love and you can\u2019t beat that.<\/p>\n

Terrence, in the first film, you were like the chess player; knowing everything. Has that changed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> No. Quentin always knows everything. He\u2019s become more relaxed about his presentation about the things he knows. Sometimes he\u2019ll let other people make their own decision, and not necessarily stir up the monster to get a princess out of it. I don\u2019t know what that means but you\u2019ll get it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This film made you a star. Did you come to the set as the big dog?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> I\u2019m going to tell you what happened in the first film. In the first film, I had come off from doing \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019 and he was doing something else, and we were both looking at each other and saying \u201cGood luck to you.\u201d We both were going to lay it down.<\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> He was out in the balcony and it was our third day or rehearsal and Harold looked at me and he had the dredlocks, looking like a pimp. Quentin is made from Harold\u2019s real life of who he was back then. He was really, truly Quentin. What he was going through with Shelby in the movie, I was going through the same thing with my first wife.<\/p>\n

HP: <\/strong>After that first movie, I called him up and said \u201cIt\u2019s all good. You won that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TH: <\/strong>He looked at me and this is when he used to smoke cigarettes. He doesn\u2019t smoke anymore. He had a Marlboro light and I had a Newport and he said, \u201cYou know only one of us is going to walk away with this movie. I was like \u201cMay the best man win.\u201d A year after the movie comes out, he called me and was like, \u201cOk. You got this one.\u201d On this new film, he clean the plates off this one.<\/p>\n

The both of you have gone on and done over 30 projects since the first film, but why do you think audiences still love and remember Quentin and Julian more than your other roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HP: <\/strong>I\u2019ve said this before. One of the things I really love about these characters is Malcolm didn\u2019t write any caricature of people. He wrote some people and I think other people responded to it and you had seen black people like that. There were just people. Folks who had gone to college, had girlfriends, making mistakes, not making mistakes, and I think you got to see some black people and not black characters, and I think people loved those people. I think we bring them back again. We\u2019re older, better, and just as complicated and I think Malcolm wrote a beautiful script, both times. That\u2019s what people are responding to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TH: <\/strong>The nature of friendship that is expressed throughout this film is how everyone is dependent on each other; to achieve, to inspire, and just to maintain. If the final message to the people who supported the first one was \u201cWow! They have good friendships. Everybody comes together to have a good time,\u201d then they should take home the message from this film that friendship maybe the thing that saves your life. Your friend may truly be your guide and your saint. You don\u2019t know if he\u2019s sitting by God or not but in this movie, we figure that out.<\/p>\n

How do you feel how life has helped the both or you become better artists, better men, and how you approach the roles to add more colors?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH: <\/strong>(looking at Harold) What did you say about truth the other day when we first started acting?<\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> I think life happens and that\u2019s the deal. What Terrence was saying is that people would say, \u201cI can\u2019t talk to you. You\u2019re an actor and you guys can lie real easily.\u201d Actors don\u2019t lie. They actually tell the truth. They\u2019re really great truth tellers and under certain circumstances. Life has made us more observant, grown, three divorces.<\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> Three divorces from two women. Figure that one out.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> That stuff just adds to the truth of how these people are; how they have grown and learned, stepped in shit and changed.<\/p>\n

TH:<\/strong> We dare each other to be honest.<\/p>\n

How much fun was working on this film than the film that both of you are in, David Ayer\u2019s Ten?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HP:<\/strong> Not as much testosterone and a bunch or dudes beating the crap of each other. You didn\u2019t one gun and no one got shot.<\/p>\n

Has the characters from this movie taught you about you in real life, as actors or people in general?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TH: <\/strong>Yeah. There were pieces of Terrence Howard that I stored into Harold 15 years years ago that I didn\u2019t know. That maybe I left on the sitting room table and I\u2019ve been walking around fro 15 years looking for that little piece of me. You know how you get lost at times. You then see your friend and he looks at you in a way and shakes your hand and it reminds you of something. He\u2019s like, \u201cHere. You left something. I picked it up along the way. That\u2019s what this is like. With the first film, we were getting to know each other, but we didn\u2019t really care about each other. My children are grown and he\u2019s has a grown daughter. I have a granddaughter now. We are really friends now. We love each other now. All of us are and that was the difference from 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

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