Malcolm D. Lee is fairly comfortable calling his first film “The Best Man” a “classic” African-American-centered film. The 1999 flick was “one of the movies that started it all, so to speak, with African-American movies, African-American as just being American, just being human beings and not always causing mayhem and what-have-you.”
That doesn’t mean “The Best Man Holiday,” that film’s sequel, doesn’t have its fair share of what-have-you, which is stoked by its returning cast like Terrence Howard, Melissa De Sousa and Taye Diggs. In the 15 years that it’s taken to arrive at the next chapter of the “Best Man” story, Lee said he wanted to arrive at a story that was more “complex, sophisticated and worthy” of the talents from what he calls his Black Pack.
But the holidays will bring out the crazy out of anyone, and Lee said that choosing to work with a Christmas-themed story helped “illustrate” and push along his plot. Family holidays don’t hurt a color palate, either, with lush decor and stage-like scenery for brawls, breakups, perils, absurdities, music and celebrations of the couples from the film.
Watch our full interview above on how Lee knew his timing was right for a sequel more than a dozen years on, and how to portray deep topics like faith in a non-cheesy way. Stay tuned for more interviews from the cast.
“The Best Man Holiday” is out on Friday (Nov. 15).