When Kimberly Elise first arrived in Hollywood, all of her jobs were on sitcoms. When she trained on stage, it was comedy. But after a star turn in the mid-'90s gangsta film “Set It Off,” it seemed Elise couldn’t shake the drama.
“I would love to be in a comedy,” she said. “Some people just gravitate to the dramatic roles I play.”
That’s not likely to change given her latest project -- a starring role in “For Colored Girls,” a film adapted and directed by Atlanta’s Tyler Perry. The film opens Friday.
Elise was just a kid in 1976 when a strangely titled production began winding its way through the theater circuit. From California to New York, to off-Broadway and finally, to the Great White Way, “For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” was like nothing the theater establishment had ever seen.
The choreopoem, a collection of 20 poems, dealt with heavy stuff: rape, abortion and domestic violence in the lives of female characters identified only by color (Lady in Red, Lady in Yellow, etc.). The production went on to win several awards including an Obie and Tony and became the defining work of writer Ntozake Shange.
It was later released as a book, a television production and now, more than 30 years later, a feature film brought to the screen by Perry.
“For Colored Girls” is a big risk for Perry. Despite being the highest-paid African-American filmmaker in Hollywood, he has taken hits from critics who consider his work, particularly his most famous creation, a sassy elderly black woman named Madea, to rely on stereotypes and cliche.
Already, some of those critics have expressed a low opinion of the film, which Perry supporters hope is the writer/director/actor's path to Hollywood’s highbrow heaven. Everyone attached to the project had concerns about how such a groundbreaking work would be re-imagined for the big screen.
“You really want it to be done right and done well,” said Elise. “I thought Tyler wasn’t messing around with this piece and really was committed to making it the best he possibly could. I felt the responsibility of this beloved piece and this very special character.”
In order to bring the play to the screen, Perry created story lines for the women and wove their poetic monologues from the original play into a script. The cast includes Janet Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad and Thandie Newton, who assumed the role intended for a pregnant Mariah Carey.
Elise, who starred in Perry’s first film ever, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” said this was a very different experience.
“When we [first] worked together, he had never even been on a film set and was there to learn and observe and soak it in. He has advanced technically and artistically, and he has been an actor himself,” she said during a phone interview.
Having been familiar with Shange’s work prior to signing on to the project, Elise admitted she was scared. She plays the role of Crystal, a mother of two living with a mentally ill war veteran.
“I knew how deep I would have to go in as an actress,” she said. “I took a long time preparing, weeks getting my mind ready for it and getting my body ready for it. I am a regular practitioner of yoga and meditation, and I stopped because I needed to be off-center for her.”
She also spent a lot of time working with co-star Michael Ealy, crafting an onscreen relationship that is at times horrifying and ultimately tragic. With male characters as damaged as Ealy's, the film might easily draw a criticism for its portrayal of black men.
“What people have to understand is ... it isn’t about a black man,” said Elise of Ealy’s role. “It is about a man who has come back from war. It is more a comment on society and the abandonment of soldiers and how families are left to patch things back together.”
She points out that the film is also not just about black women.
“Women love hard, and that has always been the case and that will always be the case. We as women still struggle with how to put ourselves first,” she said. “I want people to really understand that ‘For Colored Girls' is about the spirit and the color of the spirit and that is for every human woman on this planet. You wake up in the morning feeling blue, someone cuts you off in traffic and you are red-hot, and you unwind in the evening with a glass of wine and you are yellow.”
Whether this film will prove to be the Perry’s breakout moment remains to be seen, but Elise is proud of the end result and optimistic about the future.
“Things in Hollywood are always changing,” she said. “If you can deliver a great story ... it will absolutely be embraced and enter the mainstream and be very successful.”