Tim Story's Think Like a Man adapts Steve Harvey'sbest-selling book, "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" into anarrative tale of couples at different stages in their love lives. When the men(all best friends) learn that their significant others have been reading thebook, they team to brace against the book's effects.
ComingSoon.net visited Culver City High School where one ofthe scenes in the film was being shot. In it, several of the tale's leading menbond over their regular game of basketball. A combination of comedic anddramatic actors, Story embraced the low-key setting to let the talent improviseand joke around as they played, hopefully delivering a natural fluidity to thefinal cut.
After a bit of shooting, the film's male leads--MichaelEaly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Hart, Terrence J, Romany Malco and Gary Owen--spokea bit about their characters, their interactions on set and how both the bookand the film relate to their own real-world relationships.
You can Also check out the Trailer Below...
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| Taraji P. Henson also Stars in Think Like A Man |
Q: Can each ofyou talk a little about who your character is and their relationship situationin the film?
Terrence J: Iplay Michal Hanover, who is dating Candace, who is played by Regina Hall.Michael is a momma's boy. He's still a strong, confident guy and very funny andhe's pretty much perfect at dating and is good in relationships, except for therelationship that he has with his mother. You kind of see him grow and developas a man and kind of break out of some of those things. Besides that, he's areally nice guy.
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| Michael Ealy |
Romany Malco: Iplay the character of Zeke. I'm a player. I'm intelligent and successful, buthe has serious issues with vulnerability. He's missing something, which hedoesn't realize in the beginning, but suddenly realizes it. He's met someonethat's worth being vulnerable for. That transition is a difficult one for him,but he ends up going all out to win her over. I'm pretty sure that this moviewill solidify Steve Harvey's legacy in a way that nothing else will eversolidify. Unless he gets busted for something strange. (laughs)
Jerry Ferrara:I'm playing a character named Jeremy, who's dating a character named Kristen,who's played by Gabrielle Union, who does an amazing job. My character is thenon-committer. They've been dating for nine years and not much has reallychanged since they first met. He still loves his action figures and hisanimated characters and video games. He's kind of just stuck. He likes thingsthe way they are. I guess it's kind of shocking that he even made it the nineyears. The Kristen character is at that breaking point. That's where the bookcomes into play with her. She's trying to flip it back onto Jeremy to step itup and give her that coveted ring she's looking for. It's kind of like a mini"Lord of the Rings," except she's the only walking around looking forthe ring.
Michael Ealy: Iplay a character named Dominic and my love interest is played by Taraji P.Henson. I'm basically the dreamer. I'm the guy who has all these dreams aboutwhat he wants to do with his life, but ultimately doesn't know how to executethem. He ultimately finds his muse in Lauren. At that point, he finds thenecessary tools to execute his dreams and, at the same time, finds love becausehe's somewhat of a hopeless romantic.
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| Kevin Hart Funniest Man in Comedy |
Kevin Hart: Iplay Cedric Rodriguez. He's basically a man who was married and is now goingthrough a divorce. Through the divorce, I've developed somewhat of a blackheart towards relationships. It's not in a way that I'm vindictive towardswoman, but I just have a different opinion of what relationships are. Becauseall of my friends were single and are now headed towards building committedrelationships, my advice isn't the best advice for them. But throughout themovie, I start to realize that the way I think and the way that I've beenthinking may not be right. I decide that maybe I had a good thing. Maybemarriage was for me. I decide to go and get my marriage back. But it's after mebecoming a loose cannon, going in all the wrong directions. Strip clubs andwomen and not sleeping in my own place. Not really developing my life. Tryingto live through these guys.
Gary Owen: I playBennett. He's the happily married guy. He's kind of the outsider looking in atthe group. He's that guy that they can pick on me, but if anybody else tried topick on me, they'd probably jump the guy. I'm rooting for them. I'm genuinelyhappy for all their relationships and really want them all to work out. I'mblinded by love and am so in love with my wife. I just want them to have thatfeeling that I have in my relationship. I really root for these guys, almost toa point where it's scary.
Q: When the bookcame out, it was very popular. Did you feel the impact of women reading it?
J: I thought whenthe book came out, it was actually a good thing. A lot of times when you'reexplaining something to your significant other or explaining something to agirl, they think that you're the only one who feels a certain way. When Steveput the book out, he put it from his perspective. You have something to lookat. Almost like, "Here's proof that I'm not the only guy who thinks likethis!" In my case, I tell women all the time that I can't really commituntil I'm where I want to be with my career. That's one of Steve's biggestchapters. I would always point to that with women and say, "Look, Stevejust broke it down. Read this chapter." That's been something that I'vetold women as kind of a base point of a relationship. Definitely, it has had animpact.
Owen: I don'tknow. I thought it was fun that my wife's been with me through my whole career.She's taking the journey with me. That's one good thing about hitting a certainlevel. I know that, if my wife's down with me, it ain't because of what I'vegot.
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| Terrence J. |
Hart: The women Ideal with don't read, so it didn't have an impact on my life. (laughs) It'skind of hard for me to answer that question. I wish the book had more pictures!
Ealy: I can't sayI've ever met a woman who has read the book and tried to live by it, but I havemet a lot of women out in LA who have been to therapy. It seems kind of theequivalent.
Ferrara: I thinkthat, if I have encountered a woman who has read it, she has not admitted it tome that she's read it. I think that maybe it's not something that a woman wouldtell a man. It's kind of like "Hey, I read this book and you're doingthis, this and this!" It's kind of like their little secret. If I havefelt the impact, I haven't realized it yet.
Malco: I don'tbelieve I've ever dated a woman who has read the book. I'm actually reading thebook now. My godsister read the book and she insisted that it was agame-changer. What I realized from what I'm reading so far is that itimplements a lot of ideas that I think I kind of intuitively understood, butnever really was able to articulate. And the book articulates it like no oneelse really ever has. At least not in my 32 years of existence.
Q: Do you thinkthat men really want a woman who thinks like a man?
Hart: I would sayyes. Because if a woman thinks like a man, that means she can understand a man.If you can understand a man, you can understand a man's ups and downs. If youunderstand a man's ups and downs, a relationship can only be up. That's thebest answer you'll hear today.
Ealy: I thinkit's actually kind of impossible for a woman to think like a man, but it wouldbe great if she could appreciate some of the things that a man appreciates likesports and quiet.
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| Jerry Ferrara |
Ferrara: I agreekind of with what Kevin was saying. It's more about understanding, but I alsothink that life would be kind of boring if all women thought like men and didn'tthink like women. I think the dynamic between men and women would be reallyboring. I think the fun and adventure of it all is that it's two differentmindsets. That's the second best answer today.
Malco: I don'tknow, but I know that I'm damned sure I ain't getting with no woman who thinkslike me. That's a wrap. It'll never happen. No thank you. I don't want no womanwho thinks like me.
J: Yeah, I don'tthink you want a woman who thinks like you, but you want a woman whounderstands you. I think that's what the book is about and that's what themovie plays off of. The intention is for women to have a better understandingof how we think, but somewhere along the lines, they end up thinking a bit toomuch like us and that's where the problems arise.
Malco: You talkso deep!
J: No, I'm tryingto focus! I'm trying to sell some movie tickets over here! Stay focused on thetask.
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| The Beautiful Meagan Good |
Q: How much timedoes the movie cover? Do we see a lot of the relationships develop throughoutthe film?
Hart: It's aboutsix weeks to two months. Maybe more like three, even.
Q: Is there muchroom for improv? It looked like you were having some fun playing basketballearlier.
Hart: The goodthing about this cast that I can speak on everybody's behalf is, we've got agreat group of guys. We kind of feed off of one another. It's not just aboutbeing funny, but also about making the scene make sense. That's one thing thatwe've all taken pride in since we started the project. Every scene we go intois about trying to make it better. We feed off one another. The great thingabout Tim Story is that he allows us to play and he takes our feedback aboutwhat the script is and our ideas. Constructively, we all put them together andcome back with something better in the end.
Malco: Yeah, andI've never been on a job where the script was 100%. You're always rewritinguntil the very last day in some instances. We're very lucky that we have astrong foundation on this one and a lot of people on the set who have verystrong intuition. With the exception of [producer] Will Packer. (laughs) Willis complicated and he wears those little pink and lavender shirts and then hetries to be hard.
Owen: But thegood thing about it is, there's a good balance. Mike is a more seasoned,dramatic actor. Then there's more comedic actors and Tim trusts everyone'sinstincts. You hired a comedian, trust his instincts about where he can go witha scene.
Malco: In fact,Mike is usually egging on the comedians.
Q: Mike, this isyour second film with William Packer. What is it about these projects thatkeeps you two working together?
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| Romany Malco |
Ealy: Money!(laughs) Each script presents a different challenge. I had never tried to do aromantic comedy. I recently shot a pilot that was my first attempt at comedy.This was more about timing. This allowed me to continue going down this comedyroute, working with comedians I love. When I did "Takers," I justneeded to do something in an action movie. The timing just worked out. I hadjust come off doing "Seven Pounds." I had done serious drama, I justwanted to do some action.
Q: What's thecommon thread between all of you as friends in the film?
Ferrara: We allplay basketball weekly, so we're really close friends. We all go to
the same bar. A couple of us went to college together. Acouple of people are godfathers of people's children. We're all very closefriends.
Q: How did youincorporate your real-life experiences into your characters?
Hart: Well, I'm going through a divorce for real.
Owen: And I'mhappily married for real.
Malco: I've got areal issue with vulnerability. I've been in 17 relationships in the last year.
Ealy: I alwaysdate dreamers.
Ferrara: Ihaven't put rings on fingers in my life, much.
Malco: I willtell you one thing, though. Since this book, I've discovered standards formyself that I never even gave a thought to before.
J: Are you sayingyou're now thinking like a man but acting like a lady?
Malco: I thinkI'm thinking like a lady and acting like a man.
Think Like A Man will be releasing in March 2012 in the USand its still unkown when it will hit International Screens. Check out the Trailer below...
