The trailer for “Girls Trip” already has us giddy with excitement for a myriad of reasons. One, the movie stars some of our favorite ladies: Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish. Two, it’s set in New Orleans and based around one of the greatest annual events for Black women — Essence Fest. Three, the men: Larenz Tate, Mike Colter, Kofi Siriboe, need we say more? And most of all, watching these accomplished girlfriends kick back for a weekend of fun reminds us of ourselves and our girls, which is exactly what the leading ladies are hoping viewers will take away from the film.
“A lot of what’s happening in this movie has happened to me already,” Queen Latifah told us during a visit to the set during filming last August. “I don’t know how you and your girlfriends get down when you go to All-Star weekend or go to Miami or freaknik but it is major. And it’s nice to actually see it happen [on screen] because it does happen.
“We plan these trips to go have fun, let loose, learn something, hopefully, and at the end of the day, we wanna have a good time before we go back to our regular lives and what we have to do every day. I just want people to see us four beautiful Black women having a great time, living life, and taking this ride with us.”
“And hopefully it inspires them to travel as well ‘cuz it’s a lot of Black women that don’t go nowhere — haven’t been more than 12, 15 miles from their house,” the film’s youngest star Tiffany jumped in and said.
“And it’s a lot of women who do travel but you don’t think that they do,” Queen Latifah added. “I got a friend whose mom is in an RV club… you wouldn’t even think Black people drove RVs. So when you see [the movie] you feel like, OK thank you for representing me and the fact that I go places.”
We also have to say thank you for the laughs. We don’t want to spoil anything for you, but Tiffany had us cracking up with her one-liners on camera and behind the scenese which is funny (pun intended) because we know Regina to typically be the standout funny girl in ensemble casts. We asked how it feels having someone else fill the funny shoes this time around and she told us it’s “different.”
“I love the character Ryan so it’s been interesting and fun, but it’s hard. I like being funny, but it’s nice to be able to do something outside. They let me be funny a little bit. It’s not different to not be funny. It’s different to not be the funny one in a comedy. If this were a drama, a b-tch would be like, ‘oooooh.’ But it’s still great. It’s wonderful.”
And it turns out the chemistry the ladies have off screen is as authentic as what viewers will see in the film, Regina shared. “It’s weird because everybody is really in their character. It’s almost strange that everyone is so — it’s so organic and it’s more than I expected. I’ve met some of the ladies before but we didn’t know each other. And from the first time we met in rehearsals, it’s like there was a history so it’s been really interesting energetically to work with a group of women that you would just hang out with. There’s so much love. I don’t know what that is but I love seeing images of Black women that show how supportive we are of each other and that we have been for generations so it’s nice.”
“Girls Trip” hits theaters July 21.
The post “I Want People To See Four Beautiful Black Women Living Life:” The Women Of Girls Trip On The Film’s Impact appeared first on MadameNoire.