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00:00 The first thing I wanted to ask is,
00:01 when you first read Tia's book,
00:03 why did you have to sign on to this project?
00:05 'Cause I remember reading it myself
00:06 and thinking, "Oh my God."
00:07 - I mean, I bought that book the first day it came out.
00:09 Like, I was obsessed.
00:11 And then I just, you know, all great projects,
00:14 somebody else gets to it first.
00:16 And I couldn't figure out who had gotten the rights.
00:18 I'm, a couple years later,
00:20 run into Tommy Oliver at lunch.
00:23 And he was like, "Hey,
00:24 are you familiar with the Perfect Find T-book?"
00:26 I was like, "Yes."
00:27 And he was like, "So I have the rights."
00:29 I was like, "We should work together."
00:32 And so we've been working together.
00:33 We brought in AGC, the Netflix, NUMA,
00:36 and then our amazing cast.
00:39 And it has been like the perfect find
00:42 in every way you can imagine.
00:45 - And I ended up reading the book late.
00:47 And I think sometimes that I'm glad that I did that
00:50 because I would have been comparing myself
00:51 to Eric in the book.
00:52 And honestly, reading it in the book,
00:55 it feels like, okay, I could be,
00:57 I can be Eric, but reading it,
00:59 I also felt like I was seeing other images.
01:02 So it was good sometimes to read after,
01:04 but, you know, it's key things in there
01:06 that definitely different from our film.
01:07 But, you know, books are always the best
01:11 because you get those thoughts
01:13 and those descriptive moments.
01:14 And as a movie, you have to put that onto screen
01:18 and do the best that you can.
01:19 And people fall in love with the words first.
01:21 So, and I think we did it justice for sure.
01:25 - You guys did an amazing, amazing job.
01:27 Can you talk about the friendship that you both formed
01:29 in order to bring that chemistry to the screen?
01:31 'Cause it's incredible.
01:32 - Well, luckily we knew each other before
01:34 and we were both familiar with, you know,
01:37 our significant others and we just had,
01:39 we would vibe together like, and so it would be easy.
01:44 And what made him so appealing is how he loves Ryan
01:49 and how beautiful it is and how kind they are to each other
01:54 and how respectful they are.
01:55 And if you have that in real life,
01:59 you can, it can translate on screen.
02:00 And he was, he's just a generous person.
02:05 - Thank you. - Yeah.
02:08 - What about you?
02:09 - Yeah, I mean, it's the same thing.
02:11 Like Gab is just easy.
02:12 Like she's super fun to work with.
02:15 Gab is like, she's all about, she's super authentic.
02:19 So it's just all about being authentic,
02:21 even after scenes and just talking about stuff that,
02:25 you know, I'm an up and coming actor,
02:27 she's a vet in the game.
02:28 You never know, everyone's different.
02:30 You never know how to approach a space
02:31 or what you can talk about,
02:32 what you can't talk about, how people work,
02:34 who they want to be around.
02:35 And Gabby is just very, it's all about community and a team.
02:38 And I thought that was really fun and amazing
02:41 'cause I work better like that.
02:42 So I really enjoyed that, yeah.
02:44 - That's great. - Thanks.
02:46 - Now for you, Gabrielle,
02:47 can you talk to me about working with Jenny Huber?
02:49 Because I'm so excited to see her playing your mother.
02:51 - A dream, a dream, a dream, a dream.
02:54 And we just weren't sure if she, you know,
02:56 she would say yes.
02:57 And we were blessed that she agreed to come play with us.
03:01 And I mean, the whole set was just like, wow.
03:06 Because that she gives you that and she deserves that.
03:11 And my biggest takeaway is that she cried
03:16 because we had all black hair and makeup teams
03:19 and she was gonna be taken care of.
03:22 And she wasn't relegated to extras holding, you know,
03:26 whatever, we gave her VIP number one on the call.
03:31 She, respect that she has earned and deserves.
03:34 And it was just, it was a tremendous experience.
03:37 - I adore Tia's book.
03:38 And I was so excited to find out
03:40 that you guys were making a film.
03:42 So can you talk to me about your first impressions
03:44 of the book and the script and why you wanted to join?
03:47 - Well, two confessions, full disclosure.
03:50 I never read the book.
03:51 (laughs)
03:53 Reading it, I'm busy, but I did read the script.
03:57 Thankfully it came to me.
03:59 And I just, I loved it.
04:02 I love that it was absolutely a rom-com.
04:05 It, you know, it checked all the boxes of rom-com
04:09 but then there was more to it.
04:10 There was just the added, you know,
04:13 woman of a certain age storyline,
04:16 this reinventing herself, new love,
04:19 finding out what is important at this stage in her life
04:23 and going for it, having different goals, you know,
04:26 reshuffling the deck, which I think so much of us,
04:31 so many of us go through that.
04:33 And so it's important to see it,
04:36 to see that it's done, that it happens often
04:39 and that you can survive it and move forward
04:41 and be better than ever.
04:43 - I love Darcy because she's so larger than life
04:46 and I love the fashion.
04:48 So can you talk to me about using the clothing
04:50 as inspiration or if there was a figure
04:52 or someone that you sort of modeled the character off of?
04:55 - Right, well, having read the script,
04:57 I had an idea of who she would be
04:59 and what she felt like to me in my, you know,
05:03 my heart and in my head.
05:04 And then you go to the wardrobe fitting.
05:06 (laughs)
05:07 And it really just supported everything I was feeling
05:12 about who, about the kind of space that she takes up
05:17 in her world, which is such an important layer
05:21 to play with.
05:23 Yeah, and then that kind of gives birth to Darcy.
05:27 Then you find yourself opposite Gabrielle Union
05:29 and you're like two kids in a sandbox
05:31 and going, let's build something.
05:33 - Definitely. - Let's happen.
05:34 - And I love the old Hollywood thread
05:36 that sort of sprinkled throughout the film.
05:38 - Yes.
05:38 - Can you talk to me about,
05:39 there's a really challenging scene
05:40 toward the end of the film
05:41 where you're with Gabby and Keith
05:43 and it's just a very challenging scene
05:46 and a lot of emotions.
05:47 Can you talk about working on that scene
05:49 with those two actors and what that meant to you?
05:51 'Cause it's really challenging to watch.
05:53 - It's, yeah, everything just kind of comes
05:57 to a head in that moment.
06:00 You know, it was important to me that it ring true,
06:05 that it's not the largeness of Darcy, you know,
06:12 coming out and being a fire breathing dragon,
06:16 but you're seeing a woman that's hurt.
06:21 You're seeing a genuine moment of a woman
06:25 that has felt lied to and betrayed
06:29 by someone she chose to trust
06:31 and by the love of her life, you know, her son.
06:34 And I wanted that to come through.
06:40 That was the moment to sort of leave the, you know,
06:44 the woman that she created behind
06:48 and just look at the woman who's underneath
06:51 all the clothes and the makeup and the nails and hair.
06:55 - Well, it definitely came through.
06:56 - Good.
06:57 - And as someone who's led their own show,
06:59 like you're no stranger to being on woman led sets
07:02 and black woman led sets and Latina led sets.
07:04 What was this set like for you?
07:06 Like from a black writer to director to all black cast,
07:09 mostly, what was that like?
07:10 - Easy.
07:11 (laughing)
07:13 It was fun.
07:14 It was like coming home in a way, you know,
07:19 there's a shorthand and an understanding
07:23 and also really being clear
07:28 about the importance of what we were doing
07:32 and that we had to get it right,
07:35 or mostly right.
07:38 (laughing)
07:40 So that we could do it again.
07:42 You know, we wanted to make something
07:43 that everybody could love and have fun with and understand.
07:48 And that it wasn't for,
07:50 because for so long we've been told, you know,
07:52 black cinema's niche cinema.
07:55 And this is absolutely the kind of movie
07:57 that anyone and everyone should understand
08:01 and have fun with.
08:01 And it's a bloody rom-com.
08:04 (laughing)
08:05 - With a great soundtrack.
08:06 - You know, with a great soundtrack and a great cast.
08:09 And so that's it.
08:11 It's not a black rom-com, it's a rom-com.
08:15 It's not a black story.
08:17 It's a beautiful story.
08:19 It's a fun story.
08:21 And that's what we came to the table to wanna create.
08:25 It's by us, it's about us, and it's for us,
08:30 but it's also for everyone.