Please welcome Tyler Perry!
(applause and cheering)
(applause and cheering swell)
Why... why the hell did it take some long
for me to be invited here, man?
What do you mean, what did it take so long?
You are Tyler Perry. You are an extremely busy person.
You have 20 films under your belt,
you have 20 plays, you have a production studio.
I heard you say that. I heard you say that.
Yeah, you have a lot of things going on at the same...
-I heard you say it. -You are extremely successful.
When you started off, when you were doing your first Madea,
did you... did you think it was gonna get to this?
Did you think one day Madea would gross $500 million?
Hell, no, or I wouldn't have done it.
(laughter)
-No, I would... -You sound like Trump with the presidency.
Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't do the presidency, no, no,
because, you know, that-that's really frickin' annoying, man,
to be a guy in that costume and doing that that long.
But people love it, though.
-They love it, but it's been... -You know, and you know what...?
You know what people love is, like, people love it,
-and people love trashing it at the same time. -Yes.
But, like, Madea has this thing where...
I've been in a movie watching Madea with people,
and you cannot help but cheer
when she starts beating a man's ass on the screen.
-You... -There's some...
Like, you'll be like, "Madea, Madea, Madea."
And then she starts beating someone.
-You're like, "Yeah!" -Yeah. Yeah.
-You get into it. -Go get Donald Trump, Madea.
-Go get Donald. Yeah, I get it. -That's what you're thinking of.
I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it.
-That's exactly what you're thinking of. -I get it.
-Right? -I get it.
-But it's blown up in so many different ways. -Yeah.
Um, did you always see yourself as a businessman,
or-or was it something that organically grew
from Tyler Perry writing, directing,
Tyler Perry producing, Tyler Perry...?
Did you envision this as a mogul,
or is it something that became in time?
Build... totally building a brand.
I approached it from building a brand.
The artistry wasn't that important in the beginning.
That's why I'm so excited about Acrimony
being my first time to actually express art on-on...
For Colored Girls and this one was the one where I feel like
-I'm really expressing... -Right, right, right.
an artistic side of me, but no.
I was focusing on the business because I had a plan.
I wanted to own a studio, I had things that I wanted to do,
and I wanted to serve my audience well
so that they could allow me to do this, and they have.
That's interesting that you went
for the business side of it first to enable you
to then do the passion projects.
Acrimony is a story that touches on so many topics
that I think everyone can relate to.
-Uh, it's love gone wrong. -Yeah.
It's people, you know, questioning each other
-in terms of infidelity. -Yeah.
It's cheating or not cheating.
Where do you get these stories from?
Like, what life are you living that these are all the...?
(laughter)
Like, 'cause this is, like, a theme
in I've noticed whenever you put a pen to paper.
No. I'm the counsel to a lot of my friends,
and a lot of my friends have gone through this.
And what fascinated me about writing this story is
that there were...
I would hear her story, and I would hear his side,
-and then, they weren't the same. -Right.
And I thought, "Wow. Why don't I write a movie
"where you've got these people telling their dueling stories,
and then, let the audience decide who's telling the truth?"
I like the idea that you're sitting there
and your friends are like, "And then my heart was broken,"
and you're like, "Mm-hmm, say that again, your heart..."
Oh, that was a good line, that's a good line right there,
"I could never live with him." That was great.
-That's right, that's right. -That was great.
So don't call me if you're having issues.
Do your friends ever watch the movies and then, like...
I can picture people in the cinema
and then just turning and looking at you.
I don't watch them with them. I don't watch them with them.
I'll show up at the premiere, like, "Okay, y'all enjoy it.
-I'll be over here." -Right. And Acrimony
is not just a cool story-- you have an amazing cast as well.
Taraji P. Henson starring in the movie.
-Yeah. -She's been a blowout star.
What's it like working with her?
Crazy. Taraji's really great,
because she's not one of those actors
that's so deep and into the scene every moment,
"and I must concentrate and focus for hours,
before I can go onto set!" No, she's not that at all.
-Right. -She does the scene, she'll be deep,
she'll be in tears, and the next minute, I'll say "cut,"
she says, "Okay, I need some crab legs and some wine.
Where we going for dinner?" She's amazing.
-What, she can just flip it like that? -Just like that.
Oh, that's amazing acting.
(affected voice): The deep thespians
are really troublesome to me.
I can't hardly work with them of-ten.
-(laughter) -I think you'd be good...
-You should do that. -Yeah, that's a new character.
I like that. Yeah, Madea Goes to...
-No, stop it, stop. -like, Stratford.
-Yeah! Madea Goes to Stratford. Come on. -Stratford.
See it now. To be or not to be, mm-mm?
(as Madea): To be or not to be at all?!
Yeah, there it is, there it is, there it is.
I want a credit. I wrote it with you.
-Oh, for sure, for sure. -Um, the studios in Atlanta
are something that everybody speaks about
when they go to Atlanta. I remember when I went there,
and someone... we were driving past,
I was like, "What's that?" and someone was like,
"Oh, that's Tyler Perry's movie studios."
And I was like, "Ha-ha, that's funny."
And then they were like, "No, seriously,
that's Tyler Perry's movie studios."
You have built a movie studio that is, I now believe,
-bigger than Warner Bros. -Yeah.
And you are still building the studio.
-(applause, cheering) -And... on top of that,
on top of that, which is really amazing--
and you'll correct me if I'm wrong--
I believe this may be the first wholly black-owned
-movie studio in America. -That's right, yeah.
-That's-that's... Yeah. Yeah. -(cheering, applause)
That's-that's a big deal for many reasons.
Why do you feel it's so important
for you to own your own studio and have a black-owned studio?
Well, listen, there's an amazing thing
that's happening right now-- everybody's getting a chance
to tell their stories-- Issa Ray,
Donald Glover, Black Panther--
you've got all these great things happening.
But ownership is the key to make sure that longevity stays.
So I own everything. I would not sell a script.
I would not sell a film. I would not sell the TV shows.
Nothing. I owned it all-- and to own a studio
and have Black Panther be shot there, which was part...
-Right, that's right, yeah. -And all of these other movies
being shot there, it's really, really phenomenal,
because ownership is the key to generational wealth,
generational changes, and I think that's
what we need to learn as people of color.
-That's amazing, man. You... -(applause, cheering)
you've done a big thing.
You've, uh... you've made a lot of money doing it.
Is there one thing that money has changed in your life
that you would never want to let go of?
Like, is there something where you go like...
and it's, like, something benign,
but where you go like, "Yeah, money just...
if it wasn't... this is the one thing I want to stay rich for"?
Yeah.
(laughter)
What-what is it?
You know, just to not have to fly on a commercial plane,
-it's really cool. -That's really cool.
I know it's not a small thing, but it's really, really cool.
Why are you looking at me like that, Trevor?
I thought you were gonna be like, "Madagascan grapes."
-No, no, no, no. Just... -"Flying on my own plane
-is a small thing that I enjoy." -Just to not...
-(laughter) -just to not have to go...
So it's just you on a plane? Like, your own plane?
Don't act like you're not doing the same thing, buddy.
No, but I will have people, because we're going
to a comedy festival. It's just you...
Do you, like, sometimes go sit in the other seats
-and play other characters? -(laughter)
You've got to do that, just to make the plane feel full.
You'll be very happy to know tomorrow there are
-12 people on the plane. -Oh, no. Okay, that's different.
Yeah, it's 12 people. I thought it was just, like, you
and you'd be like, "Man, this plane is nice,
and then you go to the other side and be like,
"Mm, Madea also thinks it's nice."
(laughter)
That's good! That's good, man, that's rich
-That's rich. -Yeah? You think so?
Man, thank you so much for being on the show.
Congratulations for everything that you're doing.
Acrimony will be in theaters. We love Taraji P. Henson.
March 30. Tyler Perry, everybody.