Taraji P. Henson is front and center on the February 2012 issue of Upscale Magazine. The Oscar nominated actress pulled no punches chatting about the business of Hollywood.

On her  Twitter outburst regarding her  exclusion from the TV Guide cover with her “Person of Interest” co-stars:

“I just stated a fact. And the people spoke. And then CBS pulled the whole cover. I get that all the time. Sometimes I admit I feel like, ‘Can I catch a break?’ That wasn’t the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last. This was just one time I chose to speak on it.”

The challenges she faces as an actress of color in Hollywood:

“Hollywood keeps trying to tell me that black women can’t open a film. I will absolutely prove them wrong before my career is done. I want to stretch my acting muscle and do something completely different. I’d love to play a man. Sounds weird, but I want to do something that make me work hard. Call me kooky, but I always want to go outside my comfort zone.”

Stepping out of her comfort zone for her upcoming role in Think Like A Man:

“You’ve never seen me play this girl. She’s a bitch. And she’s the pretty girl in the film. I wanted this role so bad. I told the casting folks,’if you don’t let me get that role, I don’t need to be in this movie at all.’ They were thinking about casting a white girl for the role and I said, ‘No. I can do this.’ And then of course, when it’s time to start filming, I freaked out. I said, wait’ Maybe I should play the baby-momma instead….[LOL] I was scared because it’s so different than anything I’ve ever done.”

Upscale Magazine is on newsstands now

SOURCE

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Dr. Mahalia Hines is his mother, and the retired Chicago public school educator, offers quotes throughout “One Day It Will All Make Sense.” BlackAmericaWeb spoke to Hines about how she helped Common become the man he is today. Read the entire exclusive interview here.

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I’m referring to Rob Hardy and Will Packer of Atlanta, GA-based Rainforest Films. These two gentlemen have been at this for over a decade, earning the attention and respect of studio executives who believe in their ability to deliver box office gold – especially when compared to budget. And with each outing they continue to demonstrate that they are a duo not to be ignored, seemingly growing into a similar pair of superstar producer pants the Weinstein brothers have worn for years now.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Hardy and Packer recently, and found them both to be as astute, ambitious, and just down-to-earth as I’ve come to see them as, though from a distance. So my conversation with them was greatly appreciated.

And without further ado, here’s what I’d call the meat of the conversation.

- On whether they consider themselves a film studio/production company/or whether it matters:

We consider ourselves a film production company that is diverse in what we do, whether it’s film, television, commercials, documentaries; as long as it’s mass media and content, we want to be producers and distributors of it.

- On finding projects to produce:

We have a really strong internal development process, that is collaborative between ourselves and our team at Rainforest, and it’s been like that from the beginning. One of the things we pride ourselves on is keeping our fingers on the pulse of real people, what their interests and tastes are, which helps make our projects viable. And as we broaden and mature as filmmakers, we also have our eyes towards critical acclaim, and success with our films; we’re very aggressive about internally developing our own projects. We’ve taken projects that were brought to us by others – TAKERS & OBSESSED, for example. And turned those into successful motion pictures. We are always looking for new content and material, though not always unsolicited.

- On deciding to adapt Steve Harvey’s bestseller:

That came as a result of being aware of the book, having read the book and being around a lot of people who were talking about the book; we thought it’d be a great idea, and then tried to position ourselves so that we could obtain the rights to the book; we met with Steve and talked to him, and got the rights; and then we met and talked with Screen Gems on how we could successfully bring something like that to life.

- On their involvement in the distribution process after a film is produced, now that they’re playing at the studio level:

We’re very active, involved and hands on. And that is borne of the fact that we initially distributed our own projects, like when we first came out with our early films like CHOCOLATE CITY and TROIS. We produced those films, marketed and distributed them. So, in forming relationships with studios, we don’t just hand over the films to them after they are made and wish them luck, because that’s akin to raising a child and then just giving them away, and not making sure that they’re OK. For us, we’re very involved with the marketing, and all the creative choices made, everything from ads to radio spots; that’s all definitely a part of the process of being complete filmmakers. Now, we’re able to do that because we’ve had success independently, and we’ve had success with the studios. That’s not always an option for independent producers, to have input on the marketing of their films. But we are very, very, VERY involved with the marketing of our films and wouldn’t have it any of other way.

- On whether it’s still a struggle to get projects off the ground at the studio level, despite their successes:

Regardless of who you are, it’s hard to get projects developed in Hollywood in general; but, the good thing is that, because we have a proven track record in the business, it’s not difficult for us to get meetings, and it’s not difficult to get talent excited about working with us. And all that makes the process a lot easier.

- On the belief that Black films don’t sell in foreign markets:

It’s a combo of factors. It’s a reality. It’s a challenge. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy though. When you say something long enough, then it becomes true. And when you don’t have enough people that are working to change it, people meeting foreign agents to push these films and allow them to sell in these foreign markets, it becomes self-fulfilling. So that’s definitely another frontier, another challenge that we have to find a way, not just Rainforest, but African American filmmakers, and people who produce African American content; because when we block off the rest of the world, you are extremely limiting what your profit potential is for the film. And once you do that to your profit margin, it affects everything else – your budget for the film, your marketing budget, and your ability to produce that type of content.

- On plans to be completely autonomous:

Absolutely! We want to be able to put ourselves in a position to do more projects and have more say over what we do and how fast we do it; I think that’s the end goal for all story tellers, and the same is true for us.

- On projects on the horizon, in addition to Bounce TV:

We’ve got a really, really great slate of upcoming projects on the both the feature film and the television side; several of them have deals that are still pending and aren’t closed yet; but we can tell you that we’re working on projects in a variety of genres, from thrillers, to comedy, to horror, and we will very surely be able to realize some of those. But it’s exciting; we are continuing to evolve as filmmakers, and we are very glad to have enjoyed the success we’ve had, and we want to be able to continue to build upon that, and not only for the Rainforest brand, but also to bring other up and coming filmmakers into the fold.

- On general thoughts on the state of the business – shifting market trends, old models dying, proliferation of web based content:

Absolutely; We have to keep abreast of consumer viewing habits, attitudes and perspectives; and Hollywood, and the industry as a whole is very reactive, but we have to be proactive. We have to be ahead of the curve; And of the types of films we’ve had success with, one of the things that is challenging is the fact that the DVD market is down from where it was 3 or 4 years ago; so the way that affects us is that because there’s already a challenge with the foreign market place, and films that highlight African American stories, and also now that DVD is another ancillary revenue stream that’s been slashed, we have to find new ways for consumers who enjoy our content to find that content, and be able to monetize our interests in those films; For a long time, DVD was a life-preserver for African American-themed films, because African Americans over-index on home entertainment. And now that those numbers are down, we have to find new ways to manage the budgets of our films, and find other ancillary revenue streams.

- Predictions on what the industry will look like in 5 to 10 years:

If we knew that, then we’d be able to capitalize and monetize that to our benefit. There are some trends from 10 years ago that you saw coming, and some that you didn’t. But obviously the web, the immediacy of content, the immediate availability of content to consumers, whether at home, or mobile devices, or other devices, I think we’ll see more of that. The traditional methods will definitely be different and changed. You’ve got companies like Netflix and Google jumping into VOD, and I think you’d see more of that, and in much shorter windows. I think theatrical exhibition will still be there, since it’s the premium way for audiences to see movies. So it will survive but different.

Also, you’ll see start to see a variety of different kinds of filmmakers. As the technology advances and the cost of making and distributing films decreases, you’ll have a whole lot of different types of stories being told, which will shake up the way the industry goes, whether it’s feature film or network TV, because it’s going to dictate that things get done cheaper and faster.

- Any final thoughts or words of wisdom:

Filmmakers are encouraged to, by any means necessary, pursue your dreams, tell your stories. Start somewhere. The technology is there, the distribution avenues are there. It’s just the authenticity of your experience in your work that needs to come through.

And that’s about it!

At the moment, they are buried in production for Think Like A Man which is due in theaters some time in 2012. I’ll be looking forward to what’s next.

Tambay Obenson is editor of Shadow And Act on the indieWIRE Network at blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact

Looks like Hollywood’s “white out” is on hiatus–at least in  TV Land.  This morning the nominations for the 63rd Annual Emmys were announced and Black Hollywood is finally feeling the love.  Taraji P. Henson got a nod  in the “Best Actress in a Mini-Series Or Movie” category  for Lifetime’s ” Taken From Me: The Tiffany Ruben Story.”  Idris Elba and Laurence Fishburne will face off in the “Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie” arena–Elba for BBC crime procedural “LUTHER”, Fishburne for HBO’s “Thurgood” (based on the life of the first black supreme court justice Thurgood Marshall).  Andre Braugher (“Men of A Certain Age”), Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”), and Archie Punjabi  (“The Good Wife”) also round out the Emmy’s diverse spectrum of nominees.

Watch broadcast :
The 63rd Annul Primetime Emmys will air on FOX September 18th 8:00 P.M. EST/7c

Below is the complete list of Emmy nominees

Drama

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Dexter (Showtime)

Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Game of Thrones (HBO)

The Good Wife (CBS)

Mad Men (AMC)

Comedy

The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Glee (Fox)

Modern Family (ABC)

The Office (NBC)

Parks & Rec (NBC)

30 Rock (NBC)

Actor, drama

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)

Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)

Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)

Timothy Olyphant, Justified (FX)

Actress, drama

Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law (NBC)

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Mireille Enos, The Killing (AMC)

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)

Actor, comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

Louis CK, Louie (FX)

Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes (Showtime)

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Actress, comedy

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly (CBS)

Laura Linney, The Big C (Showtime)

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope (Fox)

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation (NBC)

Supporting actor, drama

Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age (TNT)

Josh Charles, The Good Wife (CBS)

Alan Cumming, The Good Wife (CBS)

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Walton Goggins, Justified (FX)

John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)

Supporting actress, drama

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife (CBS)

Michelle Forbes, The Killing (AMC)

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men (AMC)

Margo Martindale, Justified (FX)

Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Archie Punjabi, The Good Wife (CBS)

Supporting actor, comedy

Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)

Chris Colfer, Glee (Fox)

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family (ABC)

Ed O’Neill, Modern Family (ABC)

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)

Supporting actress, comedy

Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (NBC)

Jane Lynch,Glee (Fox)

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)

Kristin Wigg, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Movie or miniseries

Cinema Verité (HBO)

Downton Abbey (PBS)

The Kennedys (Reelz)

Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Pillars of the Earth (Starz)

Too Big To Fail (HBO)

Actor, miniseries or movie

Edgar Ramirez, Carlos (Sundance)

Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Barry Pepper, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Idris Elba, Luther (BBC America)

Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood (HBO)

William Hurt, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

Actress, miniseries or movie

Diane Lane, Cinema Verité (HBO)

Elizabeth McGovern, Downtown Abbey (PBS)

Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Taraji P. Henson, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story (Lifetime)

Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs (PBS)

Supporting actor, miniseries or movie

Tom Wilkinson, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Brian F. O’Byrne, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

James Woods, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

Supporting actress, miniseries or movie

Maggie Smith, Downtown Abbey (PBS)

Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Melissa Leo, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Mare Winningham, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Eileen Atkins, Upstairs Downstairs (PBS)

Variety, musical or comedy

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

Conan (TBS)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Reality

Antiques Roadshow (PBS)

Deadliest Catch (Discovery)

Hoarders (A&E)

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo)

Mythbusters (Discovery)

Undercover Boss (CBS)

Reality-competition

American Idol (Fox)

The Amazing Race (CBS)

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)

Project Runway (Lifetime)

So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

Top Chef (Bravo)

Reality host

Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars (ABC)

Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race (CBS)

Jeff Probst, Survivor (CBS)

Ryan Seacrest, American Idol (Fox)

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The official synopsis from the best-seller is:

“Steve Harvey, the host of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show, can’t count the number of impressive women he’s met over the years, whether it’s through the “Strawberry Letters” segment of his program or while on tour for his comedy shows. These are women who can run a small business, keep a household with three kids in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. Yet when it comes to relationships, they can’t figure out what makes men tick. Why? According to Steve it’s because they’re asking other women for advice when no one but another man can tell them how to find and keep a man.”

Win A Role In Movie Adaptation Of Steve Harvey’s “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man”

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Her fans need to rally behind Taraji and give her some support because Abrams’ last series was the NBC spy series ‘Undercovers,’ which starred Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The show was canceled in 2010 after low ratings. Only 11 of 13 episodes were aired.

READ MORE ON THIS STORY AT BLACKVOICES

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So for all of our benefit, Henson teamed up with PETA and recently posed nude for one of their “I’d Rather Be Naked” ads.

Thank you Taraji.

Thank you so much.

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Taraji P. Henson, John Legend, Nia Long, Usher and many more paid tribute to legends like Dorothy Dandridge Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sidney Poitier. Click the gallery to see them all.

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Kanye West will pay a visit to Fox’s “The Cleveland Show” this weekend and battle Cleveland Jr.

As we reported earlier, Kanye will portray a rapper named “Kenny West” who battles Cleveland Brown’s 13-year-old son, Cleveland Jr., for the affection of a young woman voiced by Taraji P. Henson.

Watch a clip from the show:

Kanye’s appearance airs Sunday night on Fox!

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Paula’s having a boy! Check out the hot red carpet photos of her, Dania, Mariah and Taraji from the 2010 People’s Choice Awards!

After honing his acting chops in action films like Terminator: Salvation and Smoking Aces, Common is giving comedy films a try.

Common appears in the new film Date Night starring Steve Carrell (40 Year Old Virgin, NBC’s “The Office”) and Tina Fey (NBC’s “30 Rock”, Baby Mama) as one of the villains.

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Judging from the trailer and a supporting cast that includes Taraji P Henson, Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Olivia Munn, this looks like one you won’t want to miss!

Date Night is in theaters in April 2010.

It’s been four years since an unknown (within Hollywood anyway) African-American playwright named Tyler Perry shocked the film industry with a massive first-place opening weekend for his feature-film debut, Diary of a Mad Black Woman.  Since that time, Perry has written, directed and appeared in seven movies, four of which have also topped the charts.  His newest hit is I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which earned $24 million during its first weekend in theaters.  While that’s $20 million short of Perry’s best debut–last spring’s Madea Goes to Jail bowed to $41 million–it is his second-biggest bow ever and the movie should continue to do solid business for the rest of September before the fall movie season kicks off in earnest the first week of October.

Shane Acker’s apocalyptic animated adventure 9 claimed the number two spot, banking $15.2 million since its mid-week opening.  That put the movie comfortably ahead of the weekend’s other non-Perry new releases, the college-set horror movie Sorority Row and Kate Beckinsale’s DOA Antarctica thriller Whiteout, which finished in sixth and seventh place respectively.  Expect both movies should be out of theaters and on DVD before Thanksgiving.

Elsewhere, Quentin Tarantino’s World War II epic Inglorious Basterds officially crossed the $100 million threshold and is on its way to passing Pulp Fiction as the director’s biggest box-office hit ever.  The news is equally good for District 9, which hit that milestone last weekend and continued to bank money, bringing its total cume to $108.5 million.

The full Top Ten is below, courtesy of the-numbers.com.  Next weekend, Megan Fox attempts to prove there’s more to her than meets the eye in her first post-Transformers star turn, Jennifer’s Body and Matt Damon headlines Steven Soderbergh’s latest eccentric studio flick, The Informant!

The Top Ten: September 11-13, 2009
1. I Can Do Bad All By Myself: $24
2. 9: $15.2
3. Inglorious Basterds: $6.5/$104.3
4. All About Steve: $5.8/$21.8
5. The Final Destination: $5.5/$58.2
6. Sorority Row: $5.2
7. Whiteout: $5.1
8. District 9: $3.6/$108.5
9. Julie & Julia: $3.3/$85.3
10. Gamer: $3.1/$16.1

Tyler Perry and his cast discuss I Can Do Bad All By Myself at a press conference in New York City.

Tyler Perry on how the film version differs from the stage play.
The only thing this movie has in common with the play is the title and Madea.  This is Madea’s first play, the first time I ever played her on stage.  I was scared to death that night; I had rehearsed all month without ever putting the costume on.  On opening night, I put the makeup on, looked at myself and thought “Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?” [Laughs]  There’s nothing like a live performance;  I did 300 live shows a year for ten years and I learned a great deal about what would work and what wouldn’t work. There’s nothing like that immediate give-and-take you get from an audience.

Taraji P. Henson on getting into character
My character, April, is very different from who I am.  I’m a mother, I’m a nurturer and I understand what it is to love unconditionally.  I hated her in the beginning, but I’m the type of actress that doesn’t judge my characters.  My job is to breath life and truth into them.  Hopefully if I live her truth, the audience won’t judge her, they’ll receive her.  For me, the message of the movie is “If you’re not loving, you’re not living.”

Adam Rodriguez on love
“Love is love” is the message of the movie.  Love comes in a lot of different forms and you’d be a fool to deny it because it doesn’t come in the form you expect for it to be.  That goes both ways.  Looking at my character Sandino, you think he has nothing to offer and yet he had the ability to come and reshape these people’s lives and make something beautiful because he had love.

Tyler Perry on writing an interracial romance
I’m not thinking about race a person is, I’m just writing a story.  I thought Adam and Taraji would be a good look for each other.  I had the same issues with the first two movies, where J. Anthony Brown and Tom Joyner were going off because all of my heroes seemed to be light-skinned.  It wasn’t anything I was thinking about, it just happened!  So I cast some dark-skinned heroes in my next few movies.  I’ll take this into consideration for the future: I’ll make sure the black woman finds a black man. [Laughs]

Brian White on his big fight scene with Adam Rodriguez
I almost broke my nose in that fight.  It was supposed to be one punch and Adam got a little too into it and threw like nine of them.  But stuff heals.  I was actually looking forward to getting my butt kicked to depict that there are consequences for negative actions.  Young men out there need to know that if you do wrong, there are consequences.

Mary J. Blige on the challenge of acting for the first time
Acting is not my first profession so for me it was a minute where I had to get out of my own way and let my character shine.  It was an amazing experience to be out of what Mary J. Blige the singer is and to be embraced and supported by everyone.

Hope Olaidé Wilson on performing her first major big-screen role
I think I grew throughout this entire experience, getting to play this character from a background you never really hear about.  I’m speaking on behalf of girls who have had to go through molestation.  It was challenging-you want to get it right, you don’t want to make it seem contrived.  You want to be as honest as possible.

Gladys Knight on her first exposure to Tyler Perry
My brother Bubba, who is one of the Pips, kept raving about this Tyler Perry guy.  He finally brought home one of his DVDs and I watched and said myself, “Madea is kind of raw and raunchy.”  The more I got into it though, I saw his plan.  He uses Madea to soften us up.  Laughter is a healing factor; it relaxes you and makes you open up to so many things.  One link that has been in everything Tyler has done is family. And the thing that impressed me most was when I walked in his studio to shoot the movie, I felt like part of a family.  Tyler portrays African-Americans as we are.  I love Madea for that reason.  The way she relates to the kids in this movie is something people need to see more often.  Kids have to have somebody lead them and guide them and we’re afraid of them.  They’re controlling everything.  We’ve gotta step up to the plate and Tyler is doing that right now, giving us the courage and the idea to go ahead and teach our children like they should be taught.

Tyler Perry on allowing the actors to ad-lib
There’s this one scene where Taraji and Adam are sitting on the sofa.  We were shooting the scene and Taraji leans over and she starts to kiss Adam, but it wasn’t in the script. So I’m sitting at the monitor waiting to see how long it was going to last.  It went on and on and I sat there waiting for them to finish.  It was a long, long, long kiss.  So I finally said “Cut” and then asked “What the hell was that?”  Taraji was like what “It’s in the script!”  And I’m like “Show it to me!”  So they had an ad-lib-actually it was an ad-lip! [Laughs]

Taraji: If I can defend myself, let me say that it was a very tragic moment for April.  I’m the type of actress that once I go, I’m gone.  We are conditioned to ignore that voice we have [telling us to pull back] and in acting I rely on that a lot.  It frees you and you get the most honest performance because you have an instinct and you act on it.  At your most vulnerable point, sometimes you need human touch.  April looked into Sandino’s eyes and he was warm and comforting and she needed that.  Love was something very scary for her.

The entire cast on their upcoming projects
Taraji: I’m delirious because I’ve been in Beijing the past two months for Kung Fu Kid, the remake of The Karate Kid with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.  That kid is a rock star-he’s going to be huge.  I’ve wrapped a film here in New York with Tina Fey and Steve Carell called Date Night.

Adam: I’m doing an arc on Ugly Betty and will have a chance to do some comedy which I’m exited about.  I’m also finishing up my last season on CSI: Miami-my episodes will be spread out throughout the season.  Over the summer, I did an indie movie called Caught in the Crossfire with Chris Klein and 50 Cent.  We’ll see how that turns out.

Mary: I have an album coming out called Stronger.  And the song “Stronger” is featured in the LeBron James documentary More than a Game.

Brian: I’ve got a new series on TNT called Men of a Certain Age with Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.  I also work with two charities, Helping Hands and a regional essay contest called Words Matter Now.  And the next movie is The Cabin in the Woods, due out in February.

Hope: I have a couple of film projects in the works, but nothing finalized.  I will be on an episode of [the CBS show] Cold Case on October 18.

Gladys: I have so many things on my plate.  I’m getting ready to go back in the studio to record more music and I’m getting ready to go to Europe for two months for my farewell tour.  Every time I go to Europe its like six or seven years before I’m back over there and we shouldn’t take time for granted.

Tyler: I just wrapped Why Did I Get Married Too, which comes out in April.  I can’t wait for you guys to see it because Janet [Jackson] was going through all that stuff with Michael at the time.  She needed to work and she brought everything she had into the film.  She has some scenes in there I can’t wait for you guys to see.  Then I start For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.  Don’t worry, there will be no Madea in it.  I really embraced the material; as you know, there’s no story, it’s all different vignettes.  But what I did is each woman has their own story and their lives cross, kind of like Crash.  Halfway through the movie, one of the women starts a For Colored Girls center where women go through a 12-step program for healing.  So a lot of the poems happen at the center when all of the women come together.  The cast is going to blow people away; it’s the most incredible cast of women of color that has ever been assembled.  It’s sixteen women, sixteen major roles and the five women I’ve spoken to said yes.  I can’t wait to tell you who they are.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow.

VIA YBF:

Taraji P. Henson must have loved her first nude photoshoot. Because now she’s topless in the September issue of Men’s Fitness:

She’s looking pretty fab though. Highlights:

“Most men are fragile,” she says. “I’m a successful woman, in the public eye, and raising a kid by myself. It can leave guys feeling like, ‘Damn, how can I have a chance?’” Answer: “Just be a man!”

Have a Gentleman’s Touch
“A woman is gentle, soft, delicate, and a man’s position is to protect her-help her up stairs, make sure she’s in the car safely first. Take good care of your woman, and the sky’s the limit!”

Avoid Mama Drama
“Date a woman with children

only if you are ready to man up, because it’s a position that comes with responsibility. If you don’t want anything too serious, then stay with women with no kids.”

The full article is here at their site.

Check out the gallery of her images below and share your thoughts!

Check out Taraji in those skyscraper heels at the Laker game last night + more celebs when you view the gallery below!

Taraji gets nude for magazine! Click here!

Check out another hot photo shoot of Taraji here!

Lil’ Kim got the boot on Dancing With The Stars this week and didn’t seem to mind. She was spotted on the town looking jubilant! Check out the photos + more below:

Lil’ Kim is planning to write a tell-all book! Read more here!

Click here for yesterday’s celeb sightings!

Tyler Perry has added veteran entertainer Gladys Knight and gospel singer Marvin Winans to the cast of his latest film I Can Do Bad All by Myself, an adaptation of his early stage play.

In the story, Perry’s iconic Madea character discovers a 16-year-old girl (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her brothers looting her home and sends them to live with their Aunt April, a hard-drinking nightclub singer played by Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson.

For more about Gladys’ role in “I Can Do Bad All By Myself,” please click here! Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Black Men’s Magazine has the Oscar nominated actress, Taraji P. Henson, all dolled up with nowhere to go in the latest issue of their mag.

Check out the gallery to see Pretty P do her thing:

Halle Berry couldn’t say enough about her 11-month-old daughter Nahla Thursday at Essence magazine’s Black Women in Hollywood luncheon, where she was honored for her acting, producing and philanthropic work.

“As a woman, I thought it was all about work and accomplishments,” said the 42-year-old Oscar winner, according to People.com. “Then this little baby comes along and says that it’s not about that.”

With tears in her eyes as she held her Power award presented by the magazine, Berry added, “I’m complete. I have more to offer my craft because [my daughter] makes me indelibly better every day.”

Colleagues like Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, and Warren Beatty all paid tribute to the actress, who admitted that she has “been [a] ghost for a while” as work has taken a backseat to motherhood.

Boyfriend Gabriel Aubry smiled in the audience as fellow honorees Diahann Carroll, “The Secret Life of Bees” director Gina Prince-Blythewood and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson fought back tears at the second annual event.

Henson, who went into Sunday’s Oscars as a Best Supporting Actress nominee for her role in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” saluted Berry as one of her biggest inspirations.

“Halle Berry, girl … I owe so much to you,” said Henson, recognizing Berry’s historic win for Best Actress in 2001. “I remember saying ‘I want to do what she’s doing’.”

Check out complete OSCAR COVERAGE on GIANTmag.com!

Click here to see more photos from the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon!

Click here to see yesterday’s celebrity photo gallery!

Check out yesterday’s celebrity photos here!

Taraji Looked exuberant when she won the NAACP Award for outstanding supporting actress!

Check out the BEST AND WORST DRESSED at the NAACP Awards on HelloBeautiful.com!

Check out yesterday’s celebrity photos here!