*Tyler Perry believes industry folk are underestimating the flexibility of his fan base when it comes to his roles outside of the Madea mothership.
“The great thing about my audience is that even though there’s an association with me with the character Madea, there’s also the association with ‘Good Deeds’ and ‘Why Did I Get Married?’ They’ve seen me in other roles before and have supported them to that degree,” Perry said during interviews for his new film “Alex Cross,” opening Friday.
Out of Perry’s 14 films, “Alex Cross” is the first in which he is not doubling as the director or writer. As reported earlier, he’s already in negotiations with author James Patterson to play the detective again for the upcoming adaptation of “Double Cross.”
At one point, wrote LA Times writer John Horn, “Alex Cross” was going to star Idris Elba in a story about the detective’s pursuit of a particularly merciless assassin. But movie business economics cost Elba the job:
“Idris is great, but I don’t know if he can open a movie,” Patterson said.
Clearly, the Atlanta-based mogul is looking to expand his fan base by taking on new and unexpected characters. He believes most of his OG crowd will support him as Alex Cross. However, he believes there is one segment of his audience that may not be ready to branch out along with him.
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I plan to see it because the storyline & trailers looks good and I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a Tyler Perry fan.
No thanks. I will be in my garden.
I mean, the FIRST “Why Did I Get Married?” was DA BOMB, but “I’ll walk through the gates of hell before I left him take someone I LOVE” sounded SO forced.
I saw him on the Stephen Colbert’s show the other day. They put up a split screen of him in Alex Cross and Madea and the auidence was kind-of awkwardly silent. I wonder if he was as embarrassed for himself as I was for him. It was embarrassing to remember that he rose to fame by dressing as a woman. He will likely regret that big time later in life.
Yes! If I can arrange for a sitter. If not, I’ll get from the redbox later.
I am a huge fan of the Alex Cross books, here is hoping Tyler does a good job with the character. I am glad he is branching out of playing Madea all of the time..
Your right HHCassius….but “I’ll walk through the gates of hell before I left him take someone I LOVE” sounded SO forced…
It sounded like a trailer from a 70′s blaxploitation movie..is he trying to be Shaft or something? LOL!!!
I plan to see ‘Alex Cross’. I like the character from the James Patterson books. Tyler Perry is an actor . An actor should not be only associated with one role. I thought that Morgan Freeman was too old to play Alex Cross in the previous movies, but he pulled it off just fine. I think that it is time for Tyler Perry to step out there and according to the trailers that I saw, Perry is doing a fine job.
Narrow-minded folks will always criticize things that they haven’t experienced, heard, read, lived or seen.
Ok, i went to see the new Alex Cross movie starring Tyler Perry……Not bad!! Loved Matthew Perry as a psycho killer. Does it compare with previous iterations with Morgan Freeman…NO!! It is watchable and I’m certain that TP fans will make it a hit movie. They are trying to start an action franchise using Perry’s name recognition and it might work. bottom line 2.5 out of 5 stars
I saw the movie with my book club this past Saturday. It wasn’t bad, but it would have been sooooooo much better if James Patterson would have stuck with Idris Elba in the lead. Matthew Fox was the best part of the movie.
Further, I’m miffed by James Patterson’s assertion that Idris Elba wouldn’t have been able to carry the movie. How does he know? Every leading man in Hollywood got his start as a neophyte and someone taking a chance on his talent. Shit — who the hell heard of Gerard Butler before ’300′ or Jason Stratham before ‘The Transporter?’ No one. But, they’re white and industry executives are willing to take a chance on them based on that alone.
Just because Tyler has a legion of fans doesn’t mean the movie will be a success. This movie had the potential to be a success without Tyler because of the legion of Alex Cross fans. I still feel the producers cast the wrong person to play Alex. Nothing against Tyler, because he didn’t stink up the screen; however, he’s still not an actor — point blank.