A couple of weeks ago it was reported that Lionsgate Films had tapped Tyler Perry to write, direct and produce an adaptation of the 1975 play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf." The film is slated to be the first project for Perry's 34th Street Films production company, housed at Lionsgate. Well during that time we discovered that "For Colored Girls" will begin shooting in Atlanta in November, with Lionsgate planning a release next year. In case you hadn't heard the play is a series of 20 poems telling stories of love, abandonment, domestic abuse and other issues faced by black women.
Since the news broke about For Colored Girls, we have heard a rumor about the casting of the film, and rumor has it that Halle Berry, Oprah Winfrey, Cicely Tyson, Kimberly Elise, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Angela Bassett, Thandie Newton, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Alfre Woodard have all joined the new film. Word has it that the deals are being put into place and an announcement should be made soon. We will have more on this as it develops.
"For Colored Girls," written by Ntozake Shange, was first performed in 1975; it was made into a 1982 telepic with Shange, Laurie Carlos, Trazana Beverly, Alfre Woodard and Lynn Whitfield for PBS' "American Playhouse" banner. A Broadway revival, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and starring India.Arie, was announced for the 2008-09 season but got yanked last summer when funding fell through.
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