TYLER PERRY'S TEMPTATION Production Notes

TYLER PERRY'S TEMPTATION (2013)
PRODUCTION NOTES
TYLER PERRY'S TEMPTATION
Production Notes
Release Date: March 29, 2013
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Tyler Perry
Screenwriter: Tyler Perry
Starring: Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Williams, Robbie Jones, Renée Taylor,
Ella Joyce, Brandy Norwood
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some violence, sexuality and drug content)
Official Website: Temptationthemovie.com | Facebook | Twitter
STUDIO SYNOPSIS: A bold exploration of the intrigue and perils of infidelity, "Tyler Perry's Temptation" is a
compelling love story that dives straight into the heart of obsessive passion. "It's about a woman who starts
to get restless in her relationship and her choice to be with another man has a huge effect on the rest of
her life," explains screenwriter/producer/director Tyler Perry. "She goes on a journey – in her career and in
her marriage – and she ends up in a very different place than she expected." In a departure from his previous dramas, this explosive film finds Perry exploring the nature of desire – and just how powerful and dangerous a taste of the forbidden can be. "This is definitely one of the most provocative movies – sexually and
otherwise – that I've made," says the director. "There are a lot of people who struggle in their relationships.
They make bad choices about their marriages. They get divorced. And so many of them don't step out of
their situation and really think about the consequences of what they're doing. This movie asks, 'Are you
sure you want to do this?' It sends up a flag."
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Seduction is the devil's playground.
Synopsis
An explosive romance about forbidden desires, TYLER PERRY'S TEMPTATION tells the provocative story of Judith, an ambitious married woman whose temptation by a handsome billionaire
leads to betrayal, recklessness and forever alters the course of her life.
About the Production
A bold exploration of the intrigue and perils of infidelity, Tyler Perry's Temptation is a compelling
love story that dives straight into the heart of obsessive passion. "It's about a woman who starts to
get restless in her relationship and her choice to be with another man has a huge effect on the rest of
her life," explains screenwriter/producer/director Tyler Perry. "She goes on a journey -- in her career and in her marriage -- and she ends up in a very different place than she expected." In a departure from his previous dramas, this explosive film finds Perry exploring the nature of desire -- and
just how powerful and dangerous a taste of the forbidden can be. "This is definitely one of the most
provocative movies -- sexually and otherwise -- that I've made," says the director. "There are a lot
of people who struggle in their relationships. They make bad choices about their marriages. They
get divorced. And so many of them don't step out of their situation and really think about the consequences of what they're doing. This movie asks, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' It sends up a
flag."
Perry's heroine, Judith, is a small-town girl hailing from a devout, working class background. But
for all her ambition, level-headedness and integrity, Judith is inexperienced when it comes to the
temptations and vices of urban life, which arrive in the form of a charismatic billionaire named Harley Madison. "Judith is unlike any character I've played before," says actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell
("Friday Night Lights," "The Defenders"). "She starts off so pure, so confident, so noble, and it fascinated me that she could actually get to where she gets for so many reasons."
"This story is almost like a fable," adds Perry. "It's about how we always think the grass is greener
on the other side and it doesn't really turn out that way."
At the start of Tyler Perry's Temptation, Judith has just finished her graduate work in psychotherapy, and she longs to complete her internship and begin a career as a marriage counselor. But the only paid internship she can find is at a trendy match-making firm for millionaires called Wise Counsel. "It's the polar opposite of what she really wants to be involved with and at the beginning she
really sticks out," explains Smollett-Bell. "She doesn't dress the right way at work. She's not hip.
She's unhappy in her job. She really doesn't know how to process all this stuff."
Adding to Judith's frustration is her stagnant marriage to Brice, a modest pharmacist whom she's
dated since high school. Routine has dulled what began as a great love affair, and Brice's lack of
ambition only fuels Judith's feelings of inertia. "Brice is happy and complacent, and that drives Judith up the wall," says Smollett-Bell. "He's ready to let fifteen years pass by and just be in the same
spot."
So when Judith meets Harley -- a handsome, confident, self-made billionaire who's considering a
business deal with Wise Counsel -- she's immediately intrigued, even if she's put off by his direct
advances. Says actor Robbie Jones, who stars as Harley Madison, "Harley inspires Judith. He's very
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ambitious. He's a workaholic. And he recognizes how gifted Judith is, how intelligent she is. He
challenges her and validates her in a way that Brice doesn't."
Eventually, Harley succeeds in whittling down Judith's defenses, but only because a genuine emotional relationship develops between them. "Judith's not promiscuous," Smollett-Bell points out.
"She's not the kind of person who just cheats because she needs to have sex with someone. She gets
caught up emotionally with Harley and that's when she gets trapped. That's when she starts doing
things she never thought she would do."
Smollett-Bell was immediately taken by Perry's compelling script, but she was also intimidated by
Judith's sexual and emotional journey. Breathing authentic life into the character would require
honesty and no small measure of courage in showing the darker sides of desire. She recalls, "When
Tyler first called me and we talked about the script, I told him I wasn't sure I could do this. There
were a lot of challenging scenes, a lot of challenging colors to play. But he made me feel completely safe. He was so open to collaboration. And on set he kept the environment light and energetic."
"I was looking for a younger actress to play Judith," says Perry. "But I had no idea that Jurnee
would be one of the most profound, powerful actors I've ever worked with. She has so many layers,
so many gears. She was beyond fantastic."
Together, Smollett-Bell and Perry navigated Judith's rocky path, ensuring that she remain sympathetic despite the reckless choices she makes. "Jurnee was great at keeping the balance of the character," says Perry. "She always knew exactly where Judith was at all times. Her performance makes
you feel for her. You watch her go through these break-ups and the pain of it all, and you can't help
but relate to her."
Adds Robbie Jones, "Judith is torn between the two men in her life -- Brice and Harley -- and you
can see that dilemma in every second of Jurnee's performance. It's a beautiful process to watch."
Smollett-Bell found her volatile scenes with Jones to be the most challenging of the shoot. "I'm not
that person in real life. I don't really like to argue like that with people," she admits. "But Judith and
Harley bring out this animalistic behavior in each other. There's this fire between them so it was just
necessary to really go there together. But it wasn't easy."
For Robbie Jones, committing to the dark, devilish role of Harley Madison was a dream come true.
"Harley just jumped off the page when I first read the script," recalls the actor. "He's a very dynamic character, a very rich character with a lot of different layers. He's an actor's dream role."
Says Perry, "Harley's definitely the antagonist in this film, but Robbie manages to be charming and
charismatic and make sense of why Judith is so drawn to him. The movie wouldn't have worked
without him."
A self-made Internet billionaire, Harley is the kind of man who, according to Jones, "you want to
bring home and introduce to your mother." However, as Judith becomes more enmeshed in his life,
Harley's behavior becomes increasingly disturbing. "He has this dark side that people don't get to
see too often," says Jones. "He's very threatened by other men being around women he has feelings
for."
"Harley is very giving, very passionate, but he has a bit of a temper problem," reveals Smollett-Bell.
"But at the beginning, Judith only sees little glimpses of it."
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Hoping to understand the nature of Harley's demons, Jones spoke with a number of psychologists
and worked with Perry to create a full back-story for the character. "It was extremely helpful and
insightful to speak to Tyler because it's his vision. But it's also my interpretation of this character,"
says Jones. "A lot of what we created isn't necessarily in the script -- but it's been extremely helpful
in my interpretation of this guy."
Perry turned to Lance Gross, an actor he knows well from his hit television series, "House of
Payne", to play Judith's devoted husband, Brice. "I've been working with Lance for a long time, and
casting him as Brice was a no brainer for me," he reports. "Brice is your average Joe who wants the
best thing for his wife. But he takes his life for granted, and the situation with his wife catches him
off guard. Lance earns the sympathy of the audience all the way through. Women love him. At the
end, everyone's applauding him."
While Brice does everything he can to save his marriage, Gross points out that Brice is also at fault
for contributing to the crisis. "Brice and Judith have known each other since they were kids. They're
so comfortable with each other. They have this special bond," says Gross. "But this story is a reminder that it doesn't matter how long you've known a person, you still have to do the things that
you started out doing. You can't take them for granted. You can't just assume that they'll always be
there. Marriage is something that you have to work for."
As Judith's romantic attentions focus exclusively on Harley, Brice looks for support from Melinda,
a new hire at his pharmacy who's played by R&B singer and television star, Brandy Norwood. Having taken years off from acting work and recording to raise a family, Norwood was careful to
choose a meaningful role to mark her return to film acting. The role of Melinda -- a secretive,
frightened woman who is running from a violent relationship -- immediately appealed to her, as did
the opportunity to work with Perry. "Working with Tyler Perry is a dream come true for me," she
says. "I really wanted this role because it speaks volumes to so many women who are suffering
from domestic violence. Melinda's been very abused in her life and she's running from something.
And she finds a safe haven in the pharmacy with Brice. She's just trying to live whatever life she
has left that's worth living."
"What I love about Brandy is her truth," offers Perry. "She brings her own personal truth to everything she does. She shows it all -- the hardship, the heartache -- all the things that she can relate to
in her own life."
Melinda lives in fear every day of her life, but eventually she comes to trust Brice's kindness and
helps him through his crisis with Judith. "She's already been down that road so this is her way of
giving back," says Norwood. "She's learned from the trauma she's been through, and now she can
help somebody else through it."
Leading the film's stellar supporting cast is Vanessa Williams as Janice, the founder and CEO of
Wise Counsel, the match-making service for millionaires where Judith works. "Janice is a pro at
love. She's written many novels about love and how to get men and how to get women. Her whole
idea is that love and romance are what fuels everyone," explains Williams. "You get to see her be a
real flirt when she's working with Harley, but you also see her limits. She can be not so nice."
Perry, who has been a longtime fan of Williams, was particularly excited to have the multi-talented
performer join the cast. "It was beyond exciting," says the director. "I've been a fan of hers from the
beginning. She was fantastic in the film and such a professional."
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"Vanessa Williams couldn't have been more perfect for this role," adds Jurnee Smollett-Bell. "Not
only is she just absolutely gorgeous, but she embodies the kind of strength and power and authority
that was important for Janice to have."
As Janice's assistant, Ava, reality television star Kim Kardashian was able to channel her selfprofessed "obsession" with fashion directly into the part. "Ava wants to fix everyone around her,"
explains Kardashian, "which is how I am with my sisters sometimes. In real life, I'm always trying
to tell them what to do or what to wear or how to look. And Ava's sort of the extreme version of
that. She constantly tears Judith down, but only because she wants her to look her best."
Despite undergoing a highly publicized divorce during production, Kardashian impressed her fellow actors on set with her focused performance. "People will be surprised," says Perry. "She really
carries the role and completely owned it on screen. And she has a great sense of humor."
"Kim had a lot going on in her life and to deliver something that she's not trained to do and make it
look effortless was amazing," adds Smollett-Bell.
Actress Ella Joyce brings her characteristic strength and gravity to the role of Reverend Sarah, Judith's mother, a woman whose religious convictions provide a strong moral backbone for the story.
"Somebody has to be the voice of wisdom in Judith's life," says Perry. "Somebody has to be the
voice of caution and warning. And Ella Joyce has this intensity and presence about her. She completely delivered."
For her part, Joyce appreciates her character's strong sense of faith, but she also wonders if this virtue contributes to Judith's unraveling. "Sarah raised Judith in the church," says Joyce, "and there's
that very delicate question: did she give her child too much church? Did she protect Judith so much
that now she doesn't know how to deal with the world? Because now her daughter is losing her
soul."
"For so long growing up, it was just Judith and her mother," explains Smollett-Bell. "And suddenly
Judith has to start thinking for herself and deciding what her own beliefs are. She has to figure out
who she wants to be as a woman, and she's not totally prepared."
Fate had a hand in helping Joyce and Smollett-Bell create an authentic mother/daughter bond on
screen: the two actors had already played mother and daughter in an Atlanta-based production years
ago, when Smollett-Bell was still a child actor. "I was 12 years old, and the film was called Selma
Lord Selma," recalls Smollett-Bell. "It's so ironic, years later now shooting a film in Atlanta, working with her again. Ella's so grounded and so rooted in the soil. You're always fortunate to be in a
scene with great actors because you don't have to do anything. You just react. I had a lot of fun
working with her on this film."
Rounding out the supporting cast is veteran actress Renee Taylor, who plays Ms. Waco Chapman,
the owner of the pharmacy where Brice and Melinda work. "Working with Renee Taylor was a
complete joy," reports Perry. "I love actors from her generation. They paved the way for the rest of
us. And Renee is hysterical and a trooper. To be her age, hanging out all day and night -- she was
just amazing."
Tyler Perry's Temptation was shot in four weeks at Tyler Perry Studios and on location in and
around Atlanta. Echoing the reactions of previous actors who've worked with Perry, Temptation's
cast members were uniformly impressed with the atmosphere of collaboration and discovery Perry
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fostered on set. Says Vanessa Williams, "Tyler's completely driven and down to earth. He knows
what he wants. But he also allows you to have creative freedom to add things which makes the process so much fun."
"The surprising thing, when you consider his huge level of success, is that he doesn't have a big
ego," reveals Smollett-Bell. "He's very confident, but he also welcomes opinions. He welcomes you
disagreeing with him which is really refreshing."
Adds Robbie Jones. "Tyler's passion trickles down to everyone, whether it's the cast or the crew. It
really bonded us all together."
That passion stems not only from a love of filmmaking, but from Perry's desire to impart positive,
constructive messages to his audiences. "He wants to use films like a mirror to society," offers
Norwood, "to talk about things that we're uncomfortable with in our community."
Perry points out that he deliberately cast younger actors in the lead roles so that young audiences
would easily relate to the story. "I want young people to really hear the message," he says. "We all
have choices to make. And what I'm saying here is, 'Be sure you're making the right one.' The
choice you make today can affect you twenty years from now and when you're young it's hard to
think that way."
"I think people are going to be surprised by just how raw and real this movie is," says Vanessa Williams. "They're going to be drawn in by the intrigue and the sexiness, but they won't know how
deep the rabbit hole really goes. It's going to be an enlightening shock."
Perry knew that opting for a traditional, Hollywood ending -- one with a pat answer to a real word
problem -- would undermine the point of the film. "I wanted to find a way to embrace what Judith's
life would actually be like in the future," he says, "to remain true to the consequences of her choices." At the same time, the director was interested, as he is with all of his films, in the possibility of
redemption and the power of faith.
In the film's final moments, Perry finds a way to do both, unveiling a startling surprise that recasts
Judith's journey in an entirely new light. "What I love about this film is that it says it's never too late
to do something great with your life, even if you've made mistakes," says Ella Joyce. "It's our mistakes that create character, if we recognize them as mistakes."
"I want audiences to experience hope," says Perry. "No matter what happens to you, no matter what
kind of bad choices you make, there's always hope.
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ABOUT THE CAST
JURNEE SMOLLETT-BELL (Judith) is an award-winning actress and activist of rare talent and
conviction. She most recently starred in Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry's Temptation, to be released in
Spring 2013, after co-starring in the Emmy® Award Winning series, "Friday Night Lights" in
which she portrays the character, Jess, alongside Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler.
Jurnee was also seen on CBS', "The Defenders" where she starred opposite Jim Belushi and Jerry
O'Connell as Lisa, the new attorney who joins their firm.
Jurnee starred in The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington, who also directed the drama. In addition to receiving rave reviews, the film was nominated for a Golden
Globe® for Best Picture and Jurnee won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in
a motion picture. Jurnee made her breakthrough performance at the age of 11, starring in Eve's Bayou opposite Samuel L. Jackson for which she won the Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Youth
Performance and was cited by Interview Magazine as one of the five Hollywood stars to watch in
the new millennium. Other film credits include starring in Roll Bounce, Gridiron Gang, and Beautiful Joe with Sharon Stone as well as made-for-television films including the Wonderful World of
Disney's "Selma Lord Selma" and Showtime's "Ruby's Bucket of Blood" opposite Angela Bassett.
She recently guest starred in the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy." Other guest starring appearances include roles on "House," "E.R.," "Strong Medicine," "NYPD Blue," and closed out the 2009 series of "Grey's Anatomy" with a performance that received critical acclaim everywhere.
Jurnee has starred on the FOX series, "Wanda at Large" with Wanda Sykes and on the CBS sitcom,
"Cosby" with Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad for which she won NAACP Image Awards in 2000
and 1999. She began her television acting career at the age of four with a recurring role on "Full
House," later reviving the character for a season of "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper." She followed by
starring on the 1994-1995 ABC comedy "On Our Own" with her real life sister and four brothers.
In addition to acting and singing, Jurnee is an activist and the youngest board member of Artists for
a New South Africa (ANSA), a nonprofit organization working in the U.S and South Africa to
combat HIV/AIDS, advance human rights, and educate and empower children orphaned by AIDS
as well as other at-risk youth. Jurnee has been involved with ANSA since the age of 11 and in 2006,
became ANSA's pioneer presenter for Positively Speaking, a program of the Los Angeles Unified
District HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit that brings people infected or affected by the disease into middle and high school classes to tell their own stories and lead discussions. Jurnee has traveled to
South Africa through her efforts with ANSA, where she has met with Nelson Mandela, Archbishop
Tutu, and Zackie Achmat as well as people living with HIV/AIDS and children orphaned by the
disease.
She recently completed an official U.S. mission for the U.S. State Department in which she was
sent to Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa to conduct workshops with women and youth about
activism, empowerment and HIV/AIDS. She also recently joined the board of the Children's Defense Fund at the invitation of longtime mentor, Marian Wright Edelman.
LANCE GROSS (Brice) recently appeared in the remake of "Steel Magnolias," starring opposite
Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, Phylicia Rashad, and Jill Scott for the Lifetime Movie Network.
Lance next stars in the Tyler Perry film Tyler Perry's Temptation opposite Jurnee Smollett-Bell,
Vanessa Williams, and Brandy Norwood for Lionsgate.
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Earlier this year, Lance produced and starred in the independent feature, The Last Fall, written and
directed by Matthew A. Cherry. In the film, Lance portrays an NFL player who finds himself unemployed and struggling to reconnect with his family and high school sweetheart. The film premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival.
Lance starred for 6 seasons on Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" and received the 2010 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
He has also starred alongside America Ferrera, Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia in Fox Searchlight's Our Family Wedding and guest starred on USA Network's "Royal Pains."
TV star, entrepreneur, fashion designer, producer, and author (New York Times best-seller Kardashian Konfidential), KIM KARDASHIAN (Ava) first burst onto the scene in 2007 after the
premiere of her hit E! Entertainment reality series "Keeping up with the Kardashians." Currently in
its 7th season, the show continues to be the highest rated program on the E! Network. She also stars
alongside her sister Kourtney in the spin-off show, "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" which
premiered its second season last year. In addition to starring in her own programs for E!, Kim has
appeared as an actress in a number of other projects, including the feature Disaster Movie
(Lionsgate), and TV's "Last Man Standing," "90210," "How I Met Your Mother," and "CSI: NY,"
among others. Most recently, she guest starred in a multi-episode arc on the Lifetime hit show,
"Drop Dead Diva," in addition to a starring role in Tyler Perry's Temptation, which will be released
by Lionsgate in March 2013.
In 2010, she produced "The Spin Crowd," for E!, which premiered to 2.46 million viewers. Furthermore, in September 2008, she competed on the ABC hit series "Dancing with the Stars." In recent years, Kim has become a highly sought after name and face and ambassador for a number of
high profile brands, including Sketchers Shape-ups and Midori Melon Liqueur. Additionally, along
with her sisters, she has the Nicole by OPI nail polish line, Kardashian Kolors. She also has created
a line of contemporary jewelry line, Belle Noel, with famed jewelry designer Pascal Mouawad. In
2006, together with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, Kim opened the designer clothing store DASH
in Calabasas, California. Other stores in Miami and New York opened in 2009 and 2010, respectively. A new store opened in West Hollywood, CA, in 2012. Recently named one of PEOPLE
magazine's Best Dressed Celebrities, in 2010, Kim co-designed a fashion line with her sisters
Kourtney and Khloe in conjunction with the bebe fashion brand. This collaboration led to a partnership between the three sisters and Bruno Schiavi on a complete brand launch, Kardashian
Kollection, encompassing apparel, shoes, lingerie, home, jewelry and accessories. Kardashian
Kollection is sold at over 500 SEARS nationwide. SEARS has created a store within a store concept
specifically for this brand. It is also sold in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. In
2009, Kim launched her first fragrance, Kim Kardashian which is available worldwide. To date, she
has launched four additional scents, Gold, LOVE, True Reflection, and Glam.Her online shoe company, ShoeDazzle.com, launched in March 2009 and provides affordable, fashionable shoes to its
members. In December 2012, Kim and her sisters will launch a beauty line, Khroma Beauty, which
will include stunning array of false lashes, a suite of Mascaras and Kardazzle Compacts and will be
sold at Ulta and other fine stores world-wide.
Kim has graced the covers of numerous publications around the world, including Cosmopolitan,
Glamour, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, L'Uomo Vogue, and Self, among others. Kardashian's official
website, www.kimkardashian.com, gets 10 million page views a month, making it the fastest growing celebrity blog on the web. She also has over 15 million followers on Twitter! Kim is involved
with a number of charitable causes, including the Dream Foundation, which grants last wishes to
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terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She also
regularly visits the patients at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is passionate about cancer
foundations since her father the late Robert Kardashian passed away from esophageal cancer.
VANESSA WILLIAMS (Janice) is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today. She has conquered the music charts, Broadway, television and motion pictures.
She has sold millions of albums worldwide and she has achieved critical acclaim as an actress on
stage, in film and on television.
Her albums The Right Stuff, The Comfort Zone and The Sweetest Days earned multiple
GRAMMY® Award nominations and have yielded such classic hits as "Save the Best For Last,"
"Dreamin" and "Love Is," as well as the Academy Award®-winning single, "Colors of the Wind,"
from Disney's Pocahontas, among many others. Her recordings also include two holiday albums,
Star Bright and Silver & Gold, Vanessa Williams Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years, Everlasting
Love and The Real Thing.
In 1994, Vanessa took Broadway by storm when she replaced Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider
Woman, winning the hearts of critics and becoming a box-office sensation. She garnered rave reviews and was nominated for a Tony® Award for the 2002 revival of Into the Woods. She also
headlined a limited special engagement of the classic, Carmen Jones, at the Kennedy Center and
starred in the Encore! Series staged concert production of St. Louis Woman. She was last seen in
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's original Broadway musical, Sondheim on Sondheim.
Vanessa made her film debut in 1986 in Under the Gun. She has starred in such features as Eraser,
Hoodlum, Soul Food, Dance With Me, Light It Up, Shaft and Johnson Family Vacation. She starred
in the independent features, My Brother and Somebody Like You and co-starred in Disney's feature
film, Hannah Montana: The Movie. Next up, Vanessa plays Janice in Tyler Perry's Temptation.
On television, Vanessa has starred in "Stompin' at the Savoy," "The Boy Who Loved Christmas,"
"The Jacksons: An American Dream," ABC's revival of "Bye, Bye Birdie," "Nothing Lasts Forever," "The Odyssey," "Don Quixote," "Keep the Faith, Baby," and she executive produced and
starred in Lifetime's "The Courage to Love" for Lifetime and the VH1 Original Movie, "A Diva's
Christmas Carol." She starred in ABC's critically-acclaimed hit series, "Ugly Betty," earning three
Emmy® nominations as the deliciously wicked Wilhelmina Slater, in addition to numerous individual and ensemble awards and nominations, including SAG, Golden Globes® and NAACP Image
Awards. In 2010, she moved to Wisteria Lane on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," where she stirred
things up for the hit show's final two seasons, winning an NAACP Image Award. She currently
plays Olivia, the stylish wife of the devilish Gavin (Terry O'Quinn) in ABC's supernatural drama
"666 Park Avenue."
In April 2012, Vanessa and her mother Helen landed on the New York Times Best Seller list with
their memoir, "You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-Nonsense Mother, and How They
Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other)."
ROBBIE JONES (Harley) is starring in the Lions Gate film Tyler Perry's Temptation, a new
dramedy written, directed, and produced by Tyler Perry, as the lead character, Harley, an internet
moguel who begins a relationship with a married marriage counselor. The much-anticipated film
also stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Kim Kardashian,Vanessa Williams, and Brandy Norwood and
opens on March 19th, 2013.
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Robbie is also currently starring in "90210" on the CW and in "Necessary Roughness" on USA
Network. Robbie's other television credits include "One Tree Hill," "Hawaii Five-O," "Southland,"
"Dark Blue," "Hellcats," and the Syfy pilot "Rewind." His stunning performances opposite Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker in Hurricane Season and Angela Bassett on "ER" are among
his most memorable.
Robbie hails from Sacramento California. He attended Cal Berkeley where he starred on the
bastketball court. Robbie currently plays basketball in The Entertainment League (E League) alongside Ice Cube, Don Cheadle, Justin Timberlake and Jamie Foxx.
A long-time music aficionado, Robbie is the much sought-after celebrity DJ "DJ RJ."
RENÉE TAYLOR (Ms. Waco Chapman) Renee got her first professional acting part at fifteen – a
slave girl in The Purim Pageant at Madison Square Garden. She went on to become a member of
the Actors Studio and has studied with some of the greatest acting teachers of the last century, most
notably, eleven years with Lee Strassberg. Her career since then has been split between acting and
writing. As an actress, she has appeared in numerous plays and movies, among them: The Errand
Boy, The Producers, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Detective, White Palace, and Alfie. But
she is most recognized as Sylvia Fine, Fran Drescher's mother on "The Nanny." Currently, she can
be seen in recurring roles in three other TV shows: "How I Met Your Mother," "Happily Divorced,"
and "Shake It Up;" and her voice can be heard on the Fox animated series "Bob's Burgers." She has
just completed major roles in two feature films: Tyler Perry's Temptation and Zarra's Law, opposite
Tony Sirico.
As a writer/actress, in collaboration with her husband of forty-seven years, Joe Bologna, she cowrote and co-starred in the Broadway play Lovers and Other Strangers. They collaborated on the
screenplay for the movie version and for it received an Academy Award® nomination. They then
co-wrote and co-starred in the original feature film Made for Each Other, They received an Emmy® Award for co-writing the TV special, "Acts of Love and Other Comedies."
They co-wrote and co-starred in the TV special "Bedrooms," for which they received a Writers
Guild of America Award. They also created the TV series "Calucci's Department" on CBS. They
co-wrote and co-starred in the feature film, It Had to be You, based on another of their Broadway
plays. They shared the same duties and also co-directed the original feature film, Love Is All There
Is, casting Angelina Jolie in her first starring role. They have co-written and co-starred in two other
Broadway plays, Bermuda Avenue Triangle and the semi-autobiographical If You Ever Leave Me,
I'm Going With You. Also in publication is Love Allways, a compilation of their short plays that
have been performed around the world. Along with their other efforts, Miss Taylor and Mr. Bologna have produced one son, one grandson, many dogs and cats, and one very bossy bird.
ELLA JOYCE (Sarah) Ella is remembered and beloved in the community for her television role of
"Eleanor" on TV's family sitcom "Roc" which earned her a NAACP Image Award Nomination. Her
many TV Guest star appearances include the recurring role of Jasmine on "My Wife & Kids," Mama Pearl on "Eve," Annabeth on "The Jamie Foxx Show," and Porsche Langford on "In The
House" and "Seinfeld" as the Dean of NYU.
Numerous film credits include Detective Waller in the popular action film "Set It Off," the Nurse in
"Bubba Ho-Tep," "Selma, Lord Selma" (working again with Jurnee Smollett-Bell), "Forbidden
Fruits," "Dead Of Winter," "Uncle P," "Who Made The Potato Salad?""Stranger Inside," and the
suffering young Mother in the famous, classic MTV Award winning music video –
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TLC's"Waterfalls". Ms. Joyce's current movie credits include the role of Sister Watkinsin Warner
Bros. popular film Preacher's Kid, parole Officer Carol Brodiein California Solo starring Robert
Carlyle, which played at Sundance this past year, a hilarious cameo in the film Our Family Wedding starring Forrest Whitaker and Regina King, and the romantic comedy Hopelessly In June. Ella
recently completed "Belle's" coming to TV One next season.
Ella works extensively in Regional Theatre earning both the Jefferson Award and the Black Theatre
Alliance Award (BTAA) from the Goodman Theatre for Lynne Nottage's "Crumbs From the Table
of Joy," which she world-premieredin New York, and received outstanding reviews in the city of
Chicago. Ms. Joyce world-premiered two August Wilson plays, one directed by the late Lloyd
Richards: Two Trains Running opposite Laurence Fishburne, and King Hedley II which she worldpremieredat the O'Reilly Pittsburg Public Theater. She performed in Fences at the bi-annual National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC, where she has served as a Board Member
helping to establish that Festival. Ella is an invited Beinecke Fellow at Yale School of Drama and
was invited to perform in a new play Bossa Nova by Kirsten Greenidge. Her many legitimate and
urban stage credits have taken her to regional theaters across the country.
Ella is also a talented voiceover artist. Audible Books-on-tape include Ron Milner's "Ruby
McCollum Story", portraying the voice of Zora Neal Hurston produced by Susan Lowenberg's Los
Angeles Theater Works , and recently completed Ernest Thomas' "Conversations With My Mother".
Ella received another NAACP Image Nomination for BET's "Storyporch" (the children TV reading
series).
Ella has spent the past five years touring her own one-woman play A Rose Among Thorns, a Tribute
to Rosa Parks, in 28 cities around the country, receiving an NAACP Nomination, numerous
awards, wonderful press reviews, testimonials, and accolades. Bookings and calendar for her play is
available at www.aRoseAmongThorns.com.
For more information on the actress, please visit www.EllaJoyce.com.
BRANDY NORWOOD (Melinda) is a superstar actress, R&B/pop singer, songwriter, host,
spokesmodel and record producer. Brandy just released her brand new album Two Eleven
(RCA/Chameleon Records) which debuted at #1 on the Billboard R&B Album chart. Ranked by the
RIAA as one of the best-selling female artists in American music history, Brandy has sold more
than 40 million albums worldwide, while receiving a plethora of awards, including a GRAMMY®,
an American Music Award, two Soul Train Music Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, three Billboard Awards, four MTV Awards®, six Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, two Nickelodeon Kid's
Choice Awards and three BMI Awards. She arrived with a self-titled debut album at the age of fifteen and went on to record a series of hit CDs that established her as one of the successful R&B/pop
female vocalists to emerge in a generation. Brandy is a cast member of BET's top-rated scripted series "The Game," receiving rave reviews and will be appearing in Tyler Perry's upcoming Lionsgate
release, Tyler Perry's Temptation.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
TYLER PERRY (Writer, Director, Producer) Tyler Perry's inspirational journey from the hard
streets of New Orleans to the heights of Hollywood's A-list is the stuff of American legend. Born
into poverty and raised in a household scarred by abuse, Tyler fought from a young age to find the
strength, faith and perseverance that would later form the foundations of his much-acclaimed plays,
films, books and shows.
It was a simple piece of advice from Oprah Winfrey that set Tyler's career in motion. Encouraged to
keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences, he began writing a series of soul-searching letters to himself. The letters, full of pain and in time, forgiveness, became a healing catharsis. His
writing inspired a musical, I Know I've Been Changed, and in 1992 Tyler gathered his life's savings
and set off for Atlanta in hopes of staging it for sold out crowds. He spent all the money but the
people never came, and Tyler once again came face to face with the poverty that had plagued his
youth. He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and his car but his faith - in God and, in turn, himself - only got stronger. He forged a powerful relationship with the church, and kept writing. In
1998 his perseverance paid off and a promoter booked I Know I've Been Changed for a limited run
at a local church-turned-theatre. This time, the community came out in droves, and soon the musical
moved to Atlanta's prestigious Fox Theatre. Tyler Perry never looked back.
And so began an incredible run of thirteen plays in as many years, including Woman Thou Art
Loosed!, a celebrated collaboration with the prominent Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes.
In the year 2000, I Can Do Bad All By Myself marked the first appearance of the now-legendary
Madea. The God-fearing, gun-toting, pot-smoking, loud-mouthed grandmother, Madea, was played
by Perry himself. Madea was such a resounding success, she soon spawned a series of plays Madea's Family Reunion (2002), Madea's Class Reunion (2003), Madea Goes To Jail (2005) - and
set the stage for Tyler's jump to the big screen.
In early 2005, Tyler's first feature film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, debuted at #1 nationwide.
His ensuing films, Madea's Family Reunion; Daddy's Little Girls; Why Did I Get Married?; Meet
The Browns; The Family That Preys; I Can Do Bad All by Myself; Why Did I Get Married Too?;
For Colored Girls; Madea's Big, Happy Family; Good Deeds and Madea's Witness Protection have
all met with massive critical and commercial success, delighting audiences across America and
around the world.
Perry also helped release Academy Award®-nominated Precious, a movie based on the novel Push
by Sapphire, in conjunction with his 34th Street Films banner, Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films and
Lionsgate.
2006 saw the publication of Tyler's first book, Don't Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings:
Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries On Life And Love, which shot to the top of the New York
Times nonfiction bestseller list and remained there for eight weeks. It went on to claim Quill Book
Awards for both "Humor" and "Book of the Year" (an unheard-of feat for a first-time author), and
spread Tyler Perry's unique brand of inspirational entertainment to a devoted new audience.
It is a brand that quickly became an empire. In 2007, Tyler expanded his reach to television with the
TBS series House of Payne, the highest-rated first-run syndicated cable show of all time, which
went into syndication after only a year. His follow up effort, Meet the Browns, was the second
highest debut ever on cable - after House of Payne. In 2012, Perry inked a partnership deal with
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Oprah Winfrey's OWN to write/produce and direct their first scripted series which will premiere in
May 2013.
Not one to rest on success, Tyler Perry and his 350 Atlanta-based employees have been hard at
work. His latest film, Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor will be released in March 2013 followed by a December 2013 release of Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas
and Single Moms Club, is currently in production and will be released in 2014. 2013 will also see
the release of the second production from his 34th Street Films banner, We the Peeples. He can currently be seen in the title role in the Rob Cohen-directed Alex Cross.
In the fall of 2008, Perry opened his 200,000 square foot studio in Atlanta, situated on the former
Delta Airlines campus of more than 30 acres. The studio consists of 5 sound stages, a post production facility, a pond, a back lot, a 400-seat theater, a private screening room, and designated areas
for entertaining and hosting events.
But listen to Tyler Perry and you'll hear a man who hasn't forgotten about the people that have
helped him reach the top of a mountain he could once only dream of climbing. He has been intimately involved in civil rights cases, including the trial of the Jena 6 in his home state of Louisiana.
He has donated generously to charities that focus on helping the homeless, such as Feeding America, Covenant House, Hosea Feed the Hungry, Project Adventure, and Perry Place - a 20-home
community that Tyler built for survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. In July 2009, Tyler
sponsored a trip to Walt Disney World® Resort for 65 children after learning that a suburban swim
club had turned them away because of the color of their skin. Tyler Perry has also built 2 churches
and has donated generously to the NAACP.
In January 2010, Perry pledged $1,000,000 via The Tyler Perry Foundation to help rebuild the lives
of those affected by the recent earthquakes in Haiti.
Tyler Perry practices what he preaches, and what he preaches has endeared him to millions of fans
drawn by that unique blend of spiritual hope and down-home humor that continues to shape his inspiring life story and extraordinary body of work.
OZZIE AREU (Producer) became president of Tyler Perry Studios, the first African-American
owned major motion picture and television studio in 2008. The mission of Tyler Perry Studios, a
place where even dreams believe, is to build worlds, inspiring audiences with real-life, and thought
provoking issues.
Ozzie's functions as president include overseeing all facets of film, television, and play productions.
Tyler Perry Studios is nestled in Atlanta on 60 acres and houses over 200,000 square feet of studio
space. The studio occupies 5 sound stages, full post‐production facilities, back lot locations, a 400
seat theater, and private screening rooms.
In addition to Ozzie's duties as president of Tyler Perry Studios, he has produced numerous Tyler
Perry films and television shows. Films produced include, the newly released "Good Deeds" starring Thandie Newton, Gabrielle Union and Tyler Perry; "The Marriage Counselor" starring Jurnee
Smollett-Bell, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Williams, and Brandy Norwood; "We The Peeples" starring Kerry Washington, Craig Robinson and Ana Gasteyer; and "For Colored Girls." "For Colored
Girls" received honors at the NAACP Image Awards including Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Motion Picture ‐ Kimberly Elise, Outstanding Directing for a Motion Picture/Television Movie ‐
Tyler Perry, and Outstanding Motion Picture. At the 2011 BET Awards show "For Colored Girls"
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received top honors for Best Picture. Ozzie also produced "Madea's Big Happy Family" starring
Loretta Devine, Cassi Davis, Shad "Bow Wow" Moss, Tamela and David Mann, and Tyler Perry.
Ozzie executive produces "Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse" due to premiere its second season on
Turner Broadcasting Systems July 13, 2012. Ozzie also produces "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," a
comedy series about a multi-generational, working class family who experiences all of life's struggles with faith, love and most importantly humor. The show premiered on TBS as the highest rated
first‐run sitcom in basic cable's history. The show remained basic cable's #1 sitcom until TBS's August 2008 premiere of "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns." For the first quarter of 2011, "House of
Payne" and "Meet the Browns" ranked among television's Top 5 primetime sitcoms with AfricanAmerican adults 18-34 and 18-49. Produced by Areu, "Meet the Browns" has the second highest
debut ever on cable, after "House of Payne." In 2012 "House of Payne" received two NAACP Image Awards including Best Comedy Series and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series –
Keshia Knight Pulliam. In 2010 Ozzie executive produced "The Tyler Perry Show."
Ozzie heads up 34th Street Films, a Tyler Perry Production arm that discovered the film, "Precious"
while at the Sundance Film Festival and made the movie "For Colored Girls" and "We the Peeples."
Prior to assuming duties as president of Tyler Perry Studios, Ozzie began his career with Warner
Bros. in Burbank, California. He worked on set and closely with cast members of NBC's "Veronica's Closet" and "Jessie" along with one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, Emmy® Awardwinning "Friends" for nine years. Following his years of service in television, from 1999 to 2005,
Ozzie worked professionally alongside two of the most successful entertainers from Hollywood's
A-list, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Next, Areu worked with Daytime Emmy® Award winner for
Outstanding Talk Show, Ellen Degeneres for two years.
PAUL HALL (Producer) CEO and founder of Paul Hall Productions, is a feature film and television producer whose credits include The Marriage Counselor, Madea's Witness Protection, Good
Deeds, For Colored Girls, We the Peeples, Higher Learning, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the 2000
re-imagining of Shaft, Johnson Family Vacation and Pride.
In 2010, Paul partnered with ESPN and director John Singleton to produce a highly-rated 30 for 30
series documentary, "Marion Jones: Press Pause."
Paul began his career working local news in the San Francisco market which led to positions at both
the ABC and NBC networks. Soon after Paul took on the Los Angeles market, pioneering documentary programming for the PBS-affiliate KCET, and the network-affiliated programming for
KABC. Paul received an Emmy® nomination for his groundbreaking work with KABC.
In mid-1990's, Paul founded The Berkeley Group, a television and motion picture marketing company whose credits include the FOX Network reality series "Sightings and Encounters: The Hidden
Truth." Paul's television work has aired on the FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO and Showtime networks.
Paul's feature filmmaking relationships span the major studios; he has spearheaded pictures
for Lionsgate, Paramount, Fox, Sony, and Warner Brothers.
MIKE UPTON (Executive Producer) has been producing films for over 20 years, and has made his
mark on films like The Road, Akeelah and the Bee, Madea's Family Reunion, and Diary of a Mad
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Black Woman. Upton spent four years as Senior Vice President of Production at 2929 Entertainment, followed by 2 years at Lionsgate as a consultant and Production Executive. Currently, Upton
is the Head of Physical Production at Inferno Entertainment.
MICHAEL PASEORNEK (Executive Producer) has been President of Motion Picture Production
at Lionsgate since the company's inception in 1997.
According to Variety, "If there is a Lionsgate model, then Paseornek has to be considered one of the
chief architects."
In 2004, Paseornek met Tyler Perry and forged a relationship that brought audiences blockbusters
such as Madea's Big Happy Family, Madea Goes To Jail, Why Did I Get Married?, Diary Of A
Mad Black Woman, and Madea's Family Reunion, all of which opened number 1 at the box office.
Lionsgate has been the home to 15 Tyler Perry movies and has recently completed a deal to produce
two more.
Paseornek also executive produced urban films ranging from dramas such as For Colored Girls,
Pride, the critically acclaimed Akeelah And The Bee, and the upcoming family comedy We The
Peeples. He also played an important role in bringing Precious to the studio.
In the genre arena, building on the success of the Saw series, Paseornek broke new ground with My
Bloody Valentine 3D - the first horror film utilizing the new 3D digital technology. In addition,
Paseornek executive produced Sam Raimi's Ghost House Production, The Possession, and is in post
on Texas Chainsaw 3D. He also oversees the U.S. debut of famed Korean director Kim Jee Woon's,
The Last Stand, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Over the past 25 years, Paseornek has played an important role in the emergence of the independent
film scene developing modestly budgeted, highly targeted genre, action, and comedy films. He
founded Cinepix/Famous Players (CFP's) U.S. operations in 1992 which distributed acclaimed films
such as Academy Award® winner Ang Lee's first feature Pushing Hands, James Mangold's
directoral debut Heavy, James Coburn's Oscar® winning performance in Affliction, and Bill Condon's Oscar® winner Gods And Monsters. When CFP went public it was renamed Lionsgate in
1997. The first films under the new Lionsgate banner that Paseornek executive produced were critical successes, including Monsters Ball, American Psycho, Buffalo 66 and Shattered Glass. The film
division has won over 25 Oscar® nominations to date.
Outside of Lionsgate, Paseornek serves on the board of directors of UCLA Mattel's Children's Hospital, is on the advisory board of Hearts of Hope, a foundation sending doctors to Latin America,
and the board of Del Corazon, a year round charitable camp for children with heart disease.
Paseornek began his career after graduating from New York University in 1974 when he became
the writing partner of former National Lampoon editor Michel Choquette. He then became a humorist-speechwriter for some of the nation's leading business executives and worked as a script-doctor
on a number of feature films.
Paseornek is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Writer's Guild
of America. He has been a guest speaker at a number of institutions, including Harvard, New York
University, and the American Film Institute and has served on numerous industry panels for organizations such as the NAACP and the Director Guild of America.
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ALEXANDER GRUSZYNSKI, ASC (Director of Photography) was born and raised in Warsaw,
Poland, moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where he was accepted to film school and spent the next
ten years shooting numerous documentaries and feature films. After relocating to New York, he
made his American film debut photographing the comedy Almost You, directed by Adam Brooks.
Among his credits are films he shot in collaboration with director Andrew Fleming such as Threesome, Dick, The In-Laws, Hamlet 2 and Nancy Drew. Other credits include 54, Maximum Risk,
Promised Land, Brothers, Deliver Us From Eva, Tremors and I Like it That Way for which he received nomination for Independent Spirit Award. His most recent credits are movies directed by
Tyler Perry including For Colored Girls and Tyler Perry's Good Deeds.
Gruszynski's television work includes telefilms "Surviving," "Cast A Deadly Spell," "By the
Dawn's Early Light," "The Last Innocent Man," "The Women Of Brewster Street," among others.
For his work on the television movie "Kingfish," Gruszynski won the Cable Ace Award For Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography and was nominated for same by the American Society of
Cinematographers.
ELOISE C. STAMMERJOHN (Production Designer) began her work with Mr. Tyler Perry on his
feature film "The Marriage Counselor" that is due for release in March of 2013.
In the past Ms. Stammerjohn has worked with the director Rod Lurie on a number of projects, most
notably on his feature film "Nothing But Truth" starring Kate Beckinsale, Vera Farmiga and Alan
Alda and on his ABC series, "Commander In-Chief" starring Geena Davis. Ms. Stammerjohn started her career as a production assistant on the film "The Long Walk Home," starring Sissy Spacek
and Whoopi Goldberg. She prides herself on the fact that she has worked her way up in the industry
holding most positions in the Art Department including Set Decorator and Art Director.
Ms. Stammerjohn has worked as a prop maker, carpenter, accountant and even as a grip - for a day.
She has tried to learn every aspect of the art and business of filmmaking but realizes that each day
on set provides a new lesson. She always gives credit to her crews for their effort on behalf of the
look of the film and tries to never lose sight of the collaborative nature of filmmaking.
Some of her other credits include: set decorator on "The Contendor" starring Jeff Bridges and Joan
Allen; set decorator on "The Last Castle" with Robert Redford; art director on the John Sayles film,
"Honeydripper;" production designer on the independent drama "Farewell To Harry" and the independent romantic comedy "Falling For Grace," starring Gayle Harold and Fay Ann Lee.
Ms. Stammerjohn attended Stanford University where she studied Anthropology. When she is not
designing films, Ms. Stammerjohn remodels historic homes and commercial properties and does
interior design work for private clients around the world. She loves photography, writes children's
books and is completing her first screenplay.
MAYSIE HOY, A.C.E.(Editor) began her theater training in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada.
She studied improvisational theatre in San Francisco with "The Wing" and "The Committee." Upon
returning to Vancouver, she formed an improvisational company called "The Good Will Store"
where she was the artistic director. For the next two years, her troupe performed and taught Viola
Spolin's theater games in schools and correctional institutions. During this time she was cast in
Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller."
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When the movie wrapped, she left for Los Angeles with only a backpack and sleeping bag. She
knew two people in L.A.-- a friend who offered her a place to stay and Robert Altman. For the next
eight years she learned the art of filmmaking by working for Robert Altman in research, costume
and production design. She also acted in several of his films, including "California Split," "Nashville" and "Three Women and a Wedding."
It was on Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" that she landed a job as an editorial apprentice.
There she discovered her passion and talent for film editing. She moved up quickly to a film assistant, and then became a film and sound assistant on many Altman films and on projects that he produced with directors Alan Rudolph and Robert Benton.
Her editing credits include: "The Joy Luck Club," "The Player" (co-edited), "Smoke," "What
Dreams May Come", "Freedom Song," "Lovejones," "Freeway," and several films for Tyler Perry
including "For Colored Girls," "The Marriage Counselor," "Madea's Big Happy Family," "Why Did
I Get Married, Too?," "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," and "Madea Goes To Jail."
Ms. Hoy is an alumna of the American Film Institute's Directing Women's Workshop. She is on the
Board of Directors in both the Motion Picture Editors Guild and American Cinema Editors. She has
been featured with thirty accomplished craftswomen in a book called "Great Women in Films."
JOHNETTA BOONE (Costume Designer) A common thread woven throughout the complexities
of characters in the Tyler Perry produced film For Colored Girls, featuring a star studded cast of
Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Anika NoniRose, Tessa Thompson and Thandie Newton, is the rich mosaic of relationships, love, dreams- and
nightmares composing their lives. Their storylines are played out, with a powerful, emotional intensity, in wardrobes of color creating a buzz of its own. Enter the master designer "behind the seams"
of For Colored Girls- Johnetta Boone.
Starting as an aspiring art student at the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts, Boone has
served as stylist and designer for the still photography, television, commercial and feature film arenas for more than three decades. Her fashion imprint is brought to bear on designs running the
gamut--everything from turn of-the century, classic, contemporary, and retro to various uniforms,
including sport attire.
Boone began her career working with such notable photographers as Ruven Afanador and George
Holz, while creating spreads for German Vogue, Entertainment Weekly and Us Magazine. She
spent many years developing her craft while studying in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology. With Edith Head as her inspiration, her dream of someday designing images for the motion
picture industry soon became her reality. While supporting an Academy Award®-winning designer
with the cast of Beloved, Boone gained acclaim not just for her captivating style but also a compelling sense of integrity.
Other costume designers have described her as one of the best they've ever worked with, bringing to
productions more than panache, but also a coveted authority on personal style. Academy-Award®
winning designer Albert Wolsky was so highly impressed with her that on the film Runaway Bride
he gave her carte blanche to recreate her exact design image, including her "personal" hand-made
jewelry for actress Joan Cussack. Producer Tim Reid recognized her talent and work ethic and invited her to design for the Showtime Original Series Linc's.
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The nation's capital served as backdrop for her expert skills when she costume designed for HBO's
original television series K Street, directed by Steven Soderbergh and executive produced by
George Clooney. There, she infused flair into the bland Washington, D.C. political arena. Political
consultant Mary Matalin was so in love with the designs Johnetta created for her character that
when the series ended, she carried it over into her personal life by purchasing each and every piece.
Boone's versatility was also captured in baseball uniforms that she designed for the sports movie
Mickey (written by John Grisham and directed by Hugh Wilson of Guarding Tess), boxing attire for
Showtime's original pilot The Contender (also directed by Hugh Wilson), and firefighter uniforms
for the History Channel's recently produced docu-drama Countdown To Ground Zero, which retells
the 9/11 tragedies during the last 102 pivotal minutes.
Boone's design mastery is also displayed in period attire like 1940's pieces in The Notebook and
Cadillac Records,featuring Beyonce and covering 1940 to the late 1960's. She has also designed for
actors such as Sam Shephard, Lynne Redgrave, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker, Maria Bello and
Emily Blunt. Her work has been featured in numerous regional and national television commercials
as well as the pages of the book "The Color of Fashion."
A hard-working professional who loves her craft? Yes. A person wrapped in the New
York/Hollywood culture? No. Boone not only grew up in Washington, DC but continues to live in
the DC area, maintaining a grounded lifestyle as a suburban wife and mother of two children.
Yet, based on the growing Oscar® buzz surrounding For Colored Girls, Boone is now poised to
enjoy game-changing success in her field despite being anchored far from the traditional entertainment epicenters.
JOEL C. HIGH (Music Supervisor) is a music supervisor and producer who has worked on over
100 films and television projects and also is chief executive for a company he co-founded in 2006.
Over the last decade, he created and supervised the music departments for two of the leading independent studios in the industry: Trimark Pictures and Lionsgate Entertainment. He built the publishing division for both companies and started the boutique soundtrack label Lions Gate Records. In
addition to his acclaimed work in motion pictures working with directors such as Tyler Perry, Marc
Forster, Peter Bogdanovich, Don Roos, Roger Avary, James Foley, Bill Paxton, Billy Ray, Mario
Van Peebles, Duane Adler and Rob Zombie, he oversaw the music for the growing Television
group at Lionsgate, including "The Dead Zone" and the Golden Globe®-winning series "Weeds."
Joel is the music executive behind such films as "Saw," "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and the Leonard
Cohen documentary "I'm Your Man." He oversaw Lionsgate's first Academy Award® nomination
in the Original Song category, for Best Picture winner "Crash" and the Golden Globe® nominated
score from "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by Alexandre Desplat.
Joel has been the music supervisor for all of Tyler Perry's films including "Diary of a Mad Black
Woman" , "Madea Goes To Jail", "I Can Do Bad All By Myself",the ground breaking "For Colored
Girls" based on the prizewinning seminal play and most recently "Madea's Witness Protection". Joel has co-produced and supervised two films in a row for Mario Van Peebles including the coming
of age dance film "We The Party". He recently completed "Cobu 3D" a dance film from Writer/Director Duane Adler and producer Robert Cort ("Step Up, Save The Last Dance". He is the music supervisor for films ranging from "In the Mix," starring Usher, Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects," "The Wash" with Snoop and Dre, Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert's "Strangers with Candy", Oscar® winner "Monsters Ball", "The Other Woman" starring Natalie Portman and the HBO
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series "Little Britain – USA". He is a four-time nominee as outstanding Music Supervisor of the
year and is a founding member and board member of the Guild of Music supervisors, and has previously served on the board for the California Copyright Conference.
Joel is currently the principal executive at Creative Control Entertainment, a multi-faceted music
supervision, consultation, live event and production company, with offices in Los Angeles and New
Orleans and diverse clients ranging from independent studios and national brands to international
governments.
Tackling another Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Last Song, in 2010, Zigman wrote the instrumental "Steve's Song"—which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Going for another record,
in 2007 Aaron Zigman scored an unprecedented nine films in one year. Inexhaustible and unlimited
in his capabilities, Zigman has risen to the highest ranks of today's film composers.
AARON ZIGMAN (Composer) is quickly proving to be one of the most prolific and versatile
composers in film music today. The Emmy®-winning songwriter plants one foot in the world of
pop idioms and the other in the emotional scope of a symphony orchestra to create narrative scores
that complement each genre he's assigned—and with more than 50 film credits to his name, that has
encompassed everything from the passionate romance The Notebook, to the fantastical adventure in
Bridge to Terabithia, to the sensitivity of For Colored Girls.
A classically trained pianist since childhood, Zigman began his musical career as a session keyboardist, arranger, and as a producer to popular music stars. Soon his resume boasted names like
Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Oleta Adams, Tina Turner, Patti Labelle, Chicago,
Nona Gaye, Carly Simon, Huey Lewis, Christina Aguilera and Seal.
In 2002 Aaron Zigman scored his first feature, the Denzel Washington thriller John Q, for director
Nick Cassavetes which began an ongoing composer-director collaboration; Zigman went on to
score three more films for Cassavetes. Their next project was The Notebook, the wildly successful
adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' romantic novel, starring Gena Rowlands and James Garner. Their
most recent collaboration was "My Sister's Keeper," starring Cameron Diaz.
Zigman's versatile credits include the family adventure fantasy film "Bridge to Terabithia;"
"Akeelah & The Bee," starring Laurence Fishbourne and Angela Bassett; "Mr. Magorium's Wonder
Emporium," which he co-scored with Alexandre Desplat; the period drama "Flash of Genius" starring Greg Kennear; Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls;" and the dark drama "Alpha Dog," another
collaboration with Nick Cassavettes. In the past few years, Zigman has had three romantic hits with
"Sex and the City," "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and "The Ugly
Truth" starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. In addition, Zigman has scored the last nine Tyler Perry films. Other scores include "Sex and the City 2" and "The Company Men" starring Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper.
Zigman's broad musical palette is further evident in his diverse body of work. He masterfully transferred small screen success to the big screen by scoring both films based on the hit HBO series Sex
and the City; the timely story of a downturn economy in The Company Men; the sexy rhythm of
three Step Up films; the sports biopic Pride; the sweet equestrian ride of Flicka andthe touching
John Cusack drama Martian Child.
Tackling another Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Last Song, in 2010, Zigman wrote the instrumental "Steve's Song"—which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Going for another record,
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TYLER PERRY'S TEMPTATION (2013)
PRODUCTION NOTES
in 2007 Aaron Zigman scored an unprecedented nine films in one year. Inexhaustible and unlimited
in his capabilities, Zigman has risen to the highest ranks of today's film composers.
KIM TAYLOR-COLEMAN, CSA (Casting Director) After a stint at Creative Artists Agency,
Kim Taylor-Coleman,\ began her casting career as an intern on SE7EN. She worked as an assistant
and associate on a variety of diverse projects including Enemy of the State, Bringing Down The
House, Akeelah & the Bee and Amistad. She has gone on to cast movies such as Inside Man, Public
Enemies, Miracle at St Anna, Good Deeds and Madea's Witness Protection. Additionally some of
her feature films that have yet to be released are the feature films We The Peeples and Tyler Perry's
Temptation. She most recently cast Oldboy, Baggage Claim, and Addicted. Kim has also casts TV
pilots, among them "Da Brick" for HBO, "Everybody Hates Chris," "Shark" for CBS, animated feature "Boxcar Children" for Animation Picture Co., "Sleeper Cell" for Showtime, "House of Anubis"
for Limepictures/Nickelodeon and "The Real Husbands of Hollywood" for BET.
Kim is based in Los Angeles but casts at least one project per year out of New York.
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