Five Things We Learned At Tyler Perry’s “The Single Moms Club” Press Conference

I’ll just throw it out there, I haven’t seen a single Tyler Perry movie in my life. However I can understand it’s appeal to the target demographic. While Perry’s films don’t exactly scream blockbuster tentpoles, they have made more then enough money at the box office, sometimes they even earn the number one spot. So going into The Single Mom’s Club press conference I really thought it was going to a film about bitter ex-wives bashing their ex-husbands. But that wasn’t the case. Despite some of the lopsided tones that occured toward the end of the film, the new Tyler Perry comedy, opening in theaters today, is a nice counter film to high speed actioners like Need For Speed. So hit the jump to see what inspired Perry to make this comedy, and what his cast had to say about being in the film.

5. When talking about what parts of his life inspired this film to be made, Perry said that his aunt was his inspiration. “Her name is Jeri Dean-Campbell-Johnson-Mays. Oh, she had a few men,” he says. Nia Long even asked “And she kept all those names?” Perry’s response “She kept every last name. He added “She said she kept them ‘For every damn mistake, I’m keepin’ this so it’ll never happen again.’”

4. Much like how Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann have their children appear in films like Knocked Up and This Is 40, Nia Long’s real-life son, Massai Dorsey Jr. plays her son in the film. Dorsey, Jr. plays Rick, May’s stubborn son, who’s in desperate need of a father-figure. “I wish he would act the way that he does on set at home. He’s amazing. As a mommy, you can only hope you are pouring into your children the tools that they need to be successful adults.”

3. Like almost any comedy, there is bound to be some improv, and with The Single Moms Club, there appeared to be some of that going on while shooting. Terry Crewes, who plays Branson, a fitness instructor pining after Lytia (Coco Brown), used items like funeral wreths to win his character’s love interest’s heart. To no avail, although they two actors did have a blast working with each other.

2. Tyler Perry wasn’t suppose to be in the film. During the writing process he sees certain actors for certain roles. So as he is writing he says one actor would be good for this role, while another actor would be good for a different role. However, he saw a lot of himself in T.K. as he wrote the script.

1. The Single Moms Club doesn’t male bash. Perry says, “there was a very conscious effort for me to not make this about the men. Even though we’ve got a great cast, Terry [Crewes], myself and William Levy, they’re satellite characters. What is important is the women and their struggle in their lives. I was challenging myself to tell the story without telling it about where these fathers were, what they weren’t doing. My point is, if you don’t have the father figure in your life, then create the fathers where you can. Find other good men to be what you need for your children.”

The Single Moms Club is now in theaters.