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Tyler Perry talks 'Divorce in the Black'
Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry's latest latest screen project stars Meagan Good as a woman who stops fighting for her marriage and starts fighting for herself. Paul Milliken chatted with Perry about the new thriller.
ATLANTA - The differences are definitely irreconcilable in "Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black."
The latest screen project from the Atlanta-based movie mogul stars Meagan Good as a woman who stops fighting for her marriage and starts fighting for herself. Screen legend Debbi Morgan co-stars, reuniting with Good more than 25 years after they appeared together in the critically-acclaimed drama "Eve’s Bayou."
"You know, working on that film, I was 14 years old," recalls Good. "And I had such a bond with her. Like, I was very connected to Debbi, and I’ve seen her over the years. So, to have this moment in this film, it was so familiar and beautiful. It made the dynamic really, really easy and honest."
"‘Eve’s Bayou’ was incredible, but the pairing wasn’t intentional," says Perry. "I wanted to work with Meagan for a very long time, and getting this opportunity on this script, I thought, ‘Who would be great to play her mother?’ And I thought, ‘Debbi.’ I’d been trying to work with her for a while, and wanted to find something worthy of her."
Tyler Perry at Tyler Perrys "Divorce In The Black" New York premiere held at the Regal Times Square on July 8, 2024 in New York, New York. (Photo by John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images)
"Divorce in the Black" is part of a four-picture deal between Perry and Amazon MGM Studios — and is another Perry production that was filmed entirely in Georgia.
"I did ‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ down in Savannah and I loved being down there; the Spanish moss, the trees, the air," the filmmaker says. "So, I wanted to go back down to Savannah and shoot again. So, we did all the interiors and everything in Atlanta, and then in Savannah, we did all the exteriors."
And cast members say the drama of the Southern Gothic landscape is a perfect match for the explosive drama that unfolds between the characters.
"She was really pulling me," laughs Cory Hardrict of a physical scene with Good. "And she was throwing out the ad-libs. And then when we got to the truck, I think we tried it one time with the slap. And I just told her, ‘Slap me.’ And she didn’t want to do it, but when she slapped me I was like, ‘OK … she slapped me!’"
"Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black" is streaming now on Prime Video.