Perry believes studio rivals H’wood’s best
Christens studio
ATLANTA, Oct 7, (AP): Tyler Perry officially christened his massive new film studio Saturday, beaming as his fellow entertainment industry luminaries descended on Atlanta and strode a red carpet to his sprawling complex for an opening gala.
The attendees warmly greeted Perry, a man who had once been homeless and yet now helmed his own studio, one of the nation’s largest.
“I think it’s pivotal in everything that we’ve done, everything that we’re doing still, that we continue to try to motivate and inspire people,” Perry told The Associated Press as he shook hands with well-wishers.
There were plenty there to congratulate him. Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Cicely Tyson, Samuel L. Jackson, Halle Berry and others all helped Perry christen his new facility, a 330-acre (134-hectare) studio that once served as a Confederate army base.
Winfrey praised Perry and told the AP the new studio head is a force to be reckoned with.
“He didn’t wait for other people to validate or to say you should go this way or that way. He said I’m going to create my own way and as we can see here, become a force for himself,” Winfrey said.
“I remember when he was thinking about buying this place and I said ‘You’d be crazy not to take it’.” she added.
“For people to drop what they’re doing in their very busy schedules to come and join me in this moment is beyond anything I could’ve imagined. It makes me happy. It makes me want to cry. It makes me grateful. It’s just I’m beyond,” Perry told Variety on the red carpet as the festivities kicked off. “I’m over the moon right now.”
Tribute
The centerpiece of the evening featured Perry’s tribute to trailblazing black stars who inspired him – Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Sidney Poitier, Whoopi Goldberg, Cicely Tyson and Harry Belafonte.
“It means I’m a part of history. This is an historic night in American cinema. It’s never been done before. So I’m honored and humbled that my brother asked me part of it,” Lee told Variety before being honored with soundstage No. 10.
The reveal of each soundstage and the star it honored was accompanied by a fireworks display and a round of massive applause from the A-list crowd. Perry also immortalized the late Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Della Reese, John Singleton and Diahann Carroll, who passed just before the ceremony on Friday.
Of celebrating Carroll’s legacy through the event, Perry said, “It’s sad news, is exactly what I thought at first, but then I looked at her 84 years on this planet. I looked at all that she was able to do. I looked at the bridges and the barriers that she broke just for me to be in this moment. So I’m celebrating it.”
Tiffany Haddish considers Perry a mentor after filming “Nobody’s Fool” on the lot. “Every time that I came in to work here at Tyler Perry studios, it was the biggest smile on my face. Cause I know the history of this place – It was a Confederate union military base,” Haddish recalled. “Trying to keep us enslaved. Now it’s owned by a black man.”
Samuel L. Jackson pointed to Perry’s vision as the key to his ascent.
“This is more about Tyler the entrepreneur. The visionary. A guy who understands that ownership means that you can do what you want,” Jackson said as he paused along the red carpet.
Tyler Perry Studios has 12 soundstages, each named after seminal black actors and actresses.
Perry remembered shedding tears when he saw an Atlanta highway exit bearing the name of his television and film studio for the first time.
The actor-director-writer believes he might have the same emotions during the grand opening of his massive state-of-the-art Tyler Perry Studios on Saturday night. He’s planning a star-studded unveiling of his 330-acre studio, where some big projects have already been filmed including his “Madea” films along with AMC’s “Walking Dead” and Marvel’s blockbuster hit “Black Panther”.
“When I came here in 1992, I came with a dream,” Perry said in a recent interview. “I’m looking at everything I’ve dreamed and more to come to pass. It just reminds me. I just thought this was the Promised Land and that sign reminded me of that every time I pass it. The studio is a reminder as well.”
Service
“I gave them the absolute best,” he said. “I built the absolute best I could. We perform and run this place like a top. We have excellent service and everything you would expect to have in a major film television studio. People are glad to shoot here. A lot of them want to return because of the way we handled it.”
Perry went from being homeless to become a force as a filmmaker to now being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which he received Tuesday. His career has been built on the success of his “Madea” stage play tours and movies along with his “Why Did I Get Married?” films.
He recently partnered with Viacom to launch the BET Plus streaming service, which debuted last month. He’ll also have two new drama series, “The Oval” and “Sistas”, premiere on BET this month.
But with all his accomplishments, Perry said Hollywood still has a hard time understanding the value of his content, which has gotten what he calls “undying” support from African Americans. He said the industry also struggles to realize the “power of the black dollar” and the amount of work he’s put into each project.
“Nobody in Hollywood believes that I’m sitting around and writing seven series by myself,” he said. “I have no writer’s room because nobody else is writing anything. I’m writing everything. There’s nobody else directing any of the shows. I’m on (the) set directing every show. That’s so rare for the town. They can’t even wrap their brains around it. On these TV shows, they shoot three, four or five pages a day. I’m shooting 90 pages a day. It’s very difficult for them to even wrap their brains around that to understand. So I feel like they don’t get it. If they did understand, they would realize that there’s a lot to Hollywood that could change or should change.”
One place Perry believes he can continue to make a difference is through his studio. He’s known for creating opportunities for African Americans and other people of color to work on his sets since opening a 200,000-square-foot studio in 2006. He sold that studio a few years ago after he moved to his current location.