{"id":84070,"date":"2018-08-14T09:11:20","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T09:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2018\/08\/14\/set-visit-report-taraji-p-henson-on-what-men-want\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T01:36:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T01:36:07","slug":"set-visit-report-taraji-p-henson-on-what-men-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/set-visit-report-taraji-p-henson-on-what-men-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Set Visit Report: Taraji P. Henson On ‘What Men Want’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Set Visit Report: Taraji P. Henson On ‘What Men Want’<\/strong>Posted by Annabel Iwegbue<\/p>\n

August 14, 2018<\/p>\n

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The classic 2000 Mel Gibson film \u2018What Women Want\u2019 will be receiving a modern day treatment in next year\u2019s remake \u2018What Men Want.\u2019<\/strong> From Paramount Pictures and the producers behind \u2018Ride Along\u2019 and \u2018Girls Trip,\u2019 the new film follows Ali Davis (Taraji P. Henson), a successful sports agent who\u2019s constantly boxed out by her male colleagues. When Ali is passed up for a well-deserved promotion, she questions what else she needs to do to succeed in a man\u2019s world… until she gains the ability to hear men\u2019s thoughts! With her newfound power, Ali looks to outsmart her colleagues as she races to sign the next basketball superstar, but the lengths she has to go to will put her relationship with her best friends and a potential new love interest (Aldis Hodge) to the test.<\/p>\n

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Hitting theaters January 2019, \u2018What Men Want\u2019<\/strong> stars Taraji P. Henson<\/strong> is the lead role of Ali, and the the cast also features Tracy Morgan, Richard Roundtree, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Josh Brener, Tamala Jones, Phoebe Robinson, Max Greenfield, Jason Jones, Brian Bosworth, Chris Witaske and Erykah Badu.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On set they were filming a large wedding scene that Henson took a quick break from to speak with us. Read below for how she handled tackling comedy, her thoughts on her character\u2019s abilities, and how she passed on \u2018Girls Trip.\u2019<\/p>\n

How does it feel to lead in this type of role that\u2019s a departure from \u2018Cookie\u2019 and what you\u2019ve done?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:<\/strong> This is the role I\u2019ve been waiting for! You know as a single parent moving to LA, doing a half hour sitcom was a dream role for someone in my position. Because I still had time to go home and and homework and you know so it didn\u2019t require those crazy hours. But as God will have it I was always doing drama! So I\u2019ve always been wanting to do this and I knew that I would have a lot to prove like you know \u2018you don\u2019t do comedy!\u2019 and I\u2019ve tried to put comedy in everything I do because in life you laugh one minute and you cry th next. And I think to me the best dramatic actors in my experience are comedic actors because they add another layer. They don\u2019t don\u2019t make it just about the deep, dark drama, they can find the nooks and crannies where we can be human. So I enjoy comedy!<\/p>\n

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Would you want to have [Ali\u2019s] ability yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:<\/strong> I don\u2019t want that pressure, its enough dealing with the voices in my own head!<\/p>\n

In your everyday life and also as your character you\u2019re always switching your look, so how does that affect you in your roles, and do you have input on your look with your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>I usually leave that up to the people that are hired to deal with it, because I have enough to think about as far as lines and where I am in the script. So honestly once they hire the person I have to commit with what they put on me, I really don\u2019t fuss with them, I let them do their jobs.<\/p>\n

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You talked about Girls Trip and how you were almost one of the women in the movie. How do you feel like that has changed how your career has gone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t think it changed in anyway! I don\u2019t think it helped or hindered, I\u2019ve always been the type that, there\u2019s enough work for everybody. I can\u2019t do everything, I don\u2019t want to do everything, I\u00a0just can\u2019t physically! I know Will [Packer] called me for Girls Trip and that was Tiffany [Haddish\u2019s] blessing! I don\u2019t know what role he had in mind for me, but at the time I just felt like that was somebody else\u2019s blessing, I felt like I had my girlfriend moment. So then when he came back to me, Will, he knew what I was looking for! I was looking for my number one position to shine as a comedic actress. You know, sometimes you say no to things or something doesn\u2019t work out and God has a bigger plan, and that’s how I move in life.<\/p>\n

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You’re actually in a wedding scene today, if you had the opportunity to choose someone dead or alive to attend you wedding who would it be, and what would you want for a first wedding song?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>If we\u2019re talking about somebody singing at the wedding of course Whitney, I guess \u2018Ribbon in the Sky.\u2019 I know that’s cliche but my cousin, when I was litter, got married and she had a fairytale wedding and they sang that and I\u2019ve just been obsessed. I have a few!<\/p>\n

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[For your recent engagement] Big wedding, small wedding?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>Small! Honestly, doing this scene is making me, I don\u2019t know if I want all of that! It might just happen at the cookout and everybody will be like \u2018Oh it’s happening now!\u2019 For me it’s not even about the spectacle, it’s about who\u2019s around. It’s about the circle, somewhere when things go bad and you try to leave that circle they go \u2018uh-uh! So for me thats what its more about than \u2018What dress is she wearing?\u2019<\/p>\n

Can you talk about your style in this at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>The style with this is more professional! She\u2019s in an all boys club so she can\u2019t be too sexy because she needs men to focus on her brains. So it’s very sleek. In the beginnings she starts off with a very dark monotone color, because that’s where she is mentally, and then as she lightens up in life her wardrobe lightens. But everything is form-fitting. A lot of dark colors towards the beginning, nudes and lighter colors toward the end. That was Adam [Shankman\u2019s] idea!<\/p>\n

If you had one person on this earth who you could hear their thoughts who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taraji P. Henson:\u00a0<\/strong>My dog! You know like \u2018Mom I really wan to sh-t and you\u2019re not getting off the sofa!\u2019 I really want to hear his thoughts. I can kinda guess, you know by facial expression, but with dogs you just don\u2019t know. The older my other dog got he would do this thing where he\u2019d just start shaking and I\u2019d be like \u2018what!\u2019<\/p>\n