After 125 performances of his live stage play, “Madea’s Big Happy Family” in 126 days, Atlanta producer/director/actor Tyler Perry was looking forward to some tropical time on his private island this month.
In his latest dispatch to fans, Perry reports that he was less than pleased to learn mid-Mai Tai that Mariah Carey had suddenly quit his next directorial assignment, “Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.”
“It’s five days before she has to go to work, nobody does that,” writes Perry of his reaction. “We have a deal. IT’S FIVE DAYS BEFORE SHE IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO WORK!”
Perry hopped on a plane, returned to his studios here in southwest Atlanta and got to work re-casting the part.
“I was told that we got a call, saying that even though our deal was done, she had been advised by her doctor not to do the film,” Perry explains.
The film director then adds: “You know I want a doctor’s note, don’t you?! LOL.”
Unlike the tabloids reporting the “Precious” actress dropped out of the film because she and husband Nick Cannon are pregnant, Perry opted not to speculate on rumors.
Writes Perry: “All I know is that I’m waiting just like the rest of the world to find out what happened. I am a huge Mariah Carey fan. She is a professional and wouldn’t have backed out of a deal unless it was a major issue. I wish her and Nick the best and she has all my love, prayers and support.”
According to Perry, the final cast for the film adaptation of Ntozake Shange‘s historic tone poem is now as follows: Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Macy Gray, Tessa Thompson, Michael Ealy, Hill Harper, Khalil Kain, Omari Hardwick and Richard Lawson.
Adds Perry of the film shoot’s start this week: “If the last three days are any indication, we are truly on our way to something special.”
The film will be shot this summer at his multi-million dollar, southwest Atlanta Tyler Perry Studios here and in New York City.
