Source: Alekandra London/Getty Images
This year’s American Black Film Festival was bustling with Black talent including co-stars Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict who opened up about their intriguing roles in Tyler Perry‘s upcoming marital drama Divorce In The Black.
Speaking to a curated group of journalists, the supportive duo opened up about their characters in the film that’s sure to deliver Perry’s golden formula of pearl clutch-worthy MESS with a message.
“I do love that she has this journey because I think so many women who have either portions of this journey or have this almost exact journey,” said Good.
“And so the biggest thing for me was making sure that she came into the fullness of self-love. She came into the fullness of understanding what she deserves.
She came into the fullness of understanding that there is life and life more abundantly on the other side and that she actually got excited about that and empowered by that.
And it’s just that she found herself and not just who she used to be, but who she’s growing into now. And so I hope that women are able to see that for themselves and I hope that it’s encouraging and inspiring.”
When asked about his approach to playing a seemingly deranged character, Hardrict had this to say about the ‘therapeutic’ role.
“Wow, how did I approach him? Like I do all my characters, like I create like backstories and just see like, why is he this way. I may watch some of my favorite movies that’s kind of relatable, like to this character. Like I watched What’s Love Got to do with it? you know?
So, what I do is I see like, how could I, you know, pull some of the films that were like, great that went down in like, cinematic history and see what I can build, you know.
And then I start, you know, when I’m acting I’m very intense, I’m passionate, I put it all on the camera, you know, but also what I loved about the characters, I was allowed to be vulnerable as well.
And then, you know, sometimes when you’re going through things in your personal life, you don’t really have an outlet, you know, to express yourself or to get out the tears and get out the frustration or pain.
And the film, it came at the right time, you know, in my life and all things, you know, I give all praise to God and all things happened in this time.
So getting that call from Mr. Perry was divine. You know, it was divine and saying that he wanted to work with me and knowing that my sister Megan, you know, nudged and gave him a little bump and God did the rest.
I just knew that it was, you know, it was, it was like my time to move on to something greater and I put all into the character and I left it there. But that’s part of being a human being.”
Beaming with good vibes, Good jumped back in to show her co-star some love which, based on the trailer, is long gone between the two.
‘It’s interesting because that’s why I was so excited about Corey playing this part because he’s so different than the character and he’s such a gentle person and such a, like a kind, just like class act and just different.
I was like, ‘he’s gonna be able to find the humanity in this character that somebody else might miss because they’re playing at the idea instead of giving the empathy.’”
According to the press release, Divorce In The Black centers around a young bank professional named Ava (Meagan Good) who’s devastated when her husband Dallas abandons their marriage.
‘Ava is determined to fight for their union, but fate intervenes, revealing Dallas’ wicked deeds that have ruined their marriage,’ per the official synopsis.
Check out the trailer below:
Written and directed by Tyler Perry, Divorce In The Black also stars Joseph Lee Anderson, Shannon Wallace, and Taylor Polidore with Richard Lawson and Debbi Morgan.
Divorce In The Black premieres on Prime Video on July 11, 2024.