Tyler Perry discusses ‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ and Madea with CNN’s Chris Wallace




CNN

You might know him best as the creator of the no-nonsense matriarch Madea, director and screenwriter of several movies and TV series that bear his name, and founder of a billionaire movie studio.

But now, Tyler Perry wants to reintroduce himself to audiences with a historical drama he’s waited nearly 30 years to do.

The multi-hyphenated Perry spoke about the decades-long journey to the release of ‘A Jazzman’s Blues,’ a Netflix drama that weaves a murder mystery and love story into a larger narrative about racism in the Deep South in the 20th century. He appeared in an inaugural season episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” a new CNN and HBO Max series. (CNN and HBO Max share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)

“I’ve been very intentional in positioning myself as far in the industry,” Perry told Wallace. “I knew my audience would support me and the Madeas and ‘Why did I get married?’ and all the great larger comedies. But I held onto this for so long because I was waiting for the right moment.

The creative experience of “A Jazzman’s Blues”, which he wrote and directed, was unique compared to his other projects, which he says “always seemed to work”. That movie, which stars rising stars Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer, “was all love,” he said.

“Every element, everything you touched, from the backdrops to the trees to the location – everything spoke to me,” he said. “And it was more than I imagined when I wrote it 27 years ago.”

The project is deeply personal to Perry, touching on colorism rooted in his own experiences.

“When I started writing the character of Bayou, played by Joshua Boone, his father despised him. [and it] kind of took me to my own dad and some of the issues my dad had with me was because I was a brown kid. Her favorite child was a very blond child. My dad grew up in the Jim Crow South and they do a lot of things. So there was this mentality that the lighter your skin, the better off you were, and that has endured and continues to this day.

While “A Jazzman’s Blues” may be particularly close to Perry’s heart, he remains proud, he said, of films like the thundering series “Madea” and comedy dramas like “Why Did I Get Married ?” Despite often negative reviews and backlash from fellow black filmmakers like Spike Lee, Perry said he believes they can reflect the experiences of his “target” audience — especially black viewers — and black women in his life, like his mother and his aunt.

“For me, I like the movies that I’ve done because they’re the people that I grew up with, that I represent,” he said. “What is important to me is that I honor the people who came, taught me and made me who I am.”

Despite being proud of Madea, Perry struggles to watch clips of himself in Madea drag. He winced when Wallace shared footage from old movies featuring Madea. (Wallace, for his part, said “Madea’s Family Reunion” was “brilliant.”) Perry said he had “always been extremely uncomfortable” in the chunky suit he wears to play her, but as the character’s acting increased, so did audiences. for more Madea.

“The public won’t let her go,” he said. “Even the last time I did it, I said ‘I’m out, I don’t do it anymore.’ And then the world changes and we have a new president. So I wanted to make people laugh… But the minute people stop coming to see her, that old chick is dead. She’s dead, that’s for sure.

But Madea’s popularity lives on. She’s appeared in 11 movies since 2005, including that year’s “A Madea Homecoming” and several Perry plays. And she has famous fans, according to Perry: The late Rep. John Lewis, Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks all enjoyed the jokes Madea made at their expense, he told Wallace.

Perry relented when Wallace asked him about Madea’s future: “My mom told me to watch Madea before she died,” he said. “So as long as people want to see it, (Madea) will be there.”