Last year, when it came time for Atlanta director Tyler Perry to film a scene at a Jonesboro Kmart where his grouchy grandma character rents a forklift to dropkick a red sports car out of her parking spot, the filmmaker got the corporate green light by uttering a single word: "Madea."
"That's all it took!" Perry says, laughing. "They had no problem with Madea as a Kmart shopper or with us filming in their parking lot. But I think some of the shoppers were a little confused!"
Over the past five years, Perry's pistol-packing alter ego has become a household brand as she's racked up more than $100 million dollars at the box office via "Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion."
As Madea, Perry has also written a 2006 best-selling book, "Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings."
On Friday, the messed-up matriarch returns to movie theaters in "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," picking up from the character's cameo in last year's big screen "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns."
Get better, get crazier
The Madea sequence involved a high-speed police chase on I-85/I-75 through downtown Atlanta. Not surprisingly, the character ends up in an orange DeKalb County jumpsuit.
"She's got a few anger management issues, you might say," Perry explains. Bolstered by Madea's box office moxie, the actor-director-writer was able to persuade popular TV therapist "Dr. Phil" McGraw to fly into Atlanta to shoot a cameo for "Jail."
Perry says the hilarious end result, shot at his old studio facility in Inman Park, was largely improvised.
"We had a set script but then we just let the cameras roll and we improvised," Perry recalls. "And Dr. Phil is really funny. He could be a stand-up comic. We've got about 20 minutes of footage for the DVD. I just lost it when he told Madea, 'In order to get better, you would have to get crazier!' It was funny but I also saw the truth in there."
At the height of the exchange, McGraw asks Madea: "What is wrong with you? You always have to get somebody all the time. You have to get the gotten when they didn't even get you."
Madea's retort: "I'm gonna get my Glock."
And since "Madea Goes to Jail" is a Tyler Perry movie, there's a message woven into the outrageousness as well.
Once inside the big house, Madea turns her motherly attention to Candace Washington, a drug-addicted prostitute who's looking at a lengthy sentence.
Perry's casting choice for Candace made headlines last year when he selected former "Cosby Show" child star Keshia Knight Pulliam, now 29, for the role.
The actress first caught the director's attention when she shot scenes for his TBS sitcom, "House of Payne."
"I don't see little Rudy from 'The Cosby Show' when I watch her act," Perry says. "I see a grown, sexy woman who's also a very good actress. I knew she'd be great for this role. I think those lingering [images of Rudy] are what's kept her from working. I wanted to give her an opportunity to show an audience what's she's about now."
Studio is humming
Meanwhile, television and film production is amping up at Tyler Perry Studios, the new sprawling southwest Atlanta business the director opened last fall. Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith were among those who flew in to attend the opening ceremony when Perry dedicated soundstages to living legends Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson and Ruby Dee.
"It was so surreal for me," Perry reflects. "Even now when I look at the pictures, it's unreal. Except that I'm still paying off those bills that are still rolling in!"
For the first time, Perry discloses that he also wanted to honor performer Eartha Kitt with a soundstage dedication as well. The ailing actress had to back out at the last minute. She died a few weeks later.
Perry says he credits a famous friend for convincing him to throw the lavish party.
"It was Oprah," he says. "She told me, 'You're only ever going to do this once. Have no regrets.' "
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