For Colored Girls
For Colored Girls is a 2010 American drama film adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. Written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry, the film features an ensemble cast which includes Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Thandiwe Newton, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, and Macy Gray.
The film depicts the interconnected lives of ten black women, exploring their lives and struggles as women of color.[4][5] It is the first film to be produced by 34th Street Films, an imprint of Tyler Perry Studios, and distributed by Lionsgate Films. It is also the first R-rated film directed by Perry. With a budget of $21 million, For Colored Girls was released on November 5, 2010, grossing $20.1 million in its opening weekend.
The film's lead cast consists of ten women of color, seven of whom are based on the play's seven characters, only known by colour (e.g. "lady in red", "lady in brown", and "lady in yellow"). Like its source material, each character deals with a different personal conflict, such as love, abandonment, rape, infidelity, and abortion.
In New York, a group of black women, most of whom live in the same Harlem apartment building, faces personal crises, heartbreak and other challenges. Crystal (Kimberly Elise) faces an unhappy existence as an abused lover. Jo (Janet Jackson) is a successful magazine editor, but her husband has a secret double life. Juanita (Loretta Devine) is a relationship counselor but cannot seem to get her love life in order. These three and others become bound together by their experiences.
Production[edit]
On September 3, 2009, Lionsgate announced it had acquired the distribution rights to Tyler Perry's 34th Street Films adaptation of the play, with principal photography originally scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia in November and December 2009, with a planned 2010 release.[6] The film was written, directed, and produced by Perry. The cast includes Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Thandiwe Newton, and Tessa Thompson.[7] Mariah Carey had also been cast, but pulled out in May 2010, citing medical reasons (later revealed to be her pregnancy); Thandiwe Newton was cast to replace her. Macy Gray was also cast.[8]
Originally using the play's full title, the film's title was shortened to For Colored Girls in September 2010.[9] In an October 2010 press conference with the cast, Perry credited his full body of work for being able to make the film, stating, "It took everything—Madea, House of Payne and all of that—for me to be able to do For Colored Girls. Had none of that happened I wouldn't have been able to say, 'Listen, this is what I want to do next,' so I’m very proud of it all."[10]
When asked if she held reservations about Perry's adaptation of her work, Shange responded: "I had a lot of qualms. I worried about his characterizations of women as plastic."[11] In reference to the film post-production, she stated, "I think he did a very fine job, although I'm not sure I would call it a finished film."[11]