{"id":80193,"date":"2017-07-18T14:30:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T14:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2017\/07\/18\/exclusive-director-malcolm-d-lee-talks-girls-trip-essence-festival\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T02:24:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T02:24:55","slug":"exclusive-director-malcolm-d-lee-talks-girls-trip-essence-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/exclusive-director-malcolm-d-lee-talks-girls-trip-essence-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Director Malcolm D. Lee Talks ‘Girls Trip’ & Shooting During Essence Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brothers With A Franchise<\/b>Director Malcolm Lee and Producer Will Packer join forces to bring star studded film Girls Trip to the big screen.<\/b>
\nPosted by Dominga Martin<\/p>\n

July 18, 2017<\/p>\n

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Hollywood is a small town.\u00a0 Black Hollywood is even smaller. However, when it comes to making great movies that have a lasting impression and box office value, there\u2019s no such thing as color, just 1 word: Franchise.<\/p>\n

Having a franchise in Hollywood means that you\u2019re bankable.\u00a0 That you can make more than 1 film, centered on 1 theme and keep blowing it up.\u00a0 While franchise films used to be synonymous with big blockbusters like a series of superhero movies, the context has changed\u2014audiences are now flocking to the theater to see themselves, predominately people of color who will see part 1, and part 2 of an entertaining film if it reflects the nuances of their true life experiences.<\/p>\n

Malcolm Lee obtained his first franchise title after the follow up to his 1998 hit \u201cThe Best Man\u201d (which made approximately $34M in the box office), while the follow up \u201cThe Best Man Holiday\u201d, although 15 years later took in almost $80M worldwide.\u00a0 Will Packer, who started his humble career in Atlanta, with the independent film Chocolate City, with partner Rob Hardy has made a name for himself with hits \u201cThink Like a Man\u201d and \u201cRide Along\u201d, each having a follow up to the first\u2014with Ride Along 1 and 2 pulling in a quarter billion worldwide.<\/p>\n

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These brothers are doing it.\u00a0 With class, style and images that resonate with the African American community; and together they are celebrating black women in all their glory with their new film GIRLS TRIP\u2014centering around 4 life long friends: \u201cSasha\u201d (Queen Latifah), \u201cDina\u201d (Tiffany Haddish), \u201cLisa\u201d (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and leading lady Regina Hall (\u201cRyan\u201d).\u00a0 Back in the day, the 4 women referred to their crew as the \u201cFlossy Posse\u201d and have hopes to reconnect and catch up over a long overdue \u201cgirl\u2019s trip\u201d to New Orleans.<\/p>\n

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The ladies plan to let loose and to accompany Ryan who is a successful author, on her book tour stop which happens to be at the ESSENCE festival in New Orleans; together they begin to reconnect and unpack their friendship as new secrets emerge and their friendship is tested.\u00a0 Over the course of this week-end the viewer is on a roller coaster ride of wild fun with Lisa, the single mom who has lost all her swag\u2014yet discovers her inner wild child with a sexy boy toy encounter, portrayed by Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar).\u00a0 Sasha is confronted with the truth that she is broke and has a gossip blog that does not feed her soul.\u00a0 While Dina, the ride or die chick of the crew \u201ckeeps it 100\u201d in every setting, and Ryan\u2026holds it together as her picture perfect marriage to has-been NFL star \u201cStewart\u201d (Mike Colter) falls apart\u2014yet, she has a slow fire burning with an old college friend, portrayed by Larenz Tate.<\/p>\n

If #blackboyjoy and #blackgirlmagic had a baby it would be Girls Trip.\u00a0 Sizzling.\u00a0 Sexy.\u00a0 Fun.\u00a0 Magical and hella funny!<\/p>\n

I sat down with Director Malcolm Lee, in New Orleans to discuss the project, and although he doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s a franchise director yet, here\u2019s what he had to say:<\/p>\n

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What was your biggest challenge in shooting GIRLS TRIP, in real time at the ESSENCE Music Festival?<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh gosh, it was a logistical nightmare.\u00a0 It was logistically the most difficult movie that I\u2019ve ever been a part of.\u00a0 What you don\u2019t think about is the fact that you have a huge festival, 1\/2 a million people coming down here (NOLA) to watch artists as big as Mariah Carey, Diddy and New Edition and\u00a0that<\/i>\u00a0festival is going to go on with or without my movie\u2014-but the movie was quite a production itself, and we had to put\u00a0our production<\/i>within\u00a0that<\/i>\u00a0production and I had stars in my movie that are recognizable and so I\u2019m trying to shoot scenes with Queen Latifah playing the role of \u201cSasha\u201d in GIRLS TRIP; [and well] I\u2019ve got Queen Latifah walking around ESSENCE, so you\u2019ve got a lot of people going: \u201cQueen Latifah!!! Can I get a picture?!\u201d So it was tough, and that was a challenge, but we overcame it and having the ability to shoot at the ESSENCE festival gave us scope, gave us production value, gave us a back drop that was really incredible that we took full advantage of.<\/p>\n

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With the Diddy performance scene and Dina, was this a one take shot?<\/b><\/p>\n

What was interesting about that scene is it was really an impromptu moment.\u00a0 Diddy decided that he would engage with the actor.\u00a0 So that moment when Dina (Tiffany Haddish) climbed on stage was not written in the script, it happened and we were rolling and decided to go with it.\u00a0 Queen Latifah stepped in and pushed her up, so when she turns around and you see that expression on her face, that was real.<\/p>\n

I hear that it took some convincing having you incorporate the peeing scene.\u00a0 Why did you have reservations?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, I just didn\u2019t know if it was realistic.\u00a0 Would this really happen?\u00a0 Would we be able to convince the actor to do this?\u00a0 And I thought about it and thought\u2026lets go for it, and it worked.<\/p>\n

You and Will have both worked with Regina Hall, so was she the nucleus when it came to casting the ensemble?<\/b><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s exactly what it was, we called her first.\u00a0 The next two were Latifah and Jada and then Tiffany.\u00a0 Regina can do comedy, she can do drama, she is just so talented, and we needed someone to anchor this project that could be funny, yet you could invest in and believe in their struggle and challenges they have to overcome.\u00a0 You needed someone who can make you believe that [and that] was Regina.<\/p>\n

Regina Hall and Malcom Lee have come a long way since her role as \u201cCandy\u201d in his first film The Best Man.\u00a0 One can say that the magic ingredient in these franchise films that Will Packer and Malcolm Lee is Ms. Hall.\u00a0 An actor constantly evolving, with range and talent that is bankable at the box office.<\/p>\n

Next up for Malcolm and Will is the film \u201cNight School\u201d starring Kevin Hart.\u00a0 This duo will keep cranking out hits worth watching.<\/p>\n

GIRLS TRIP opens July 21st in theaters nationwide.<\/b><\/p>\n

Restricted Trailer<\/p>\n