From Cosby kid to Perry hooker and everything in-between.

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At long last, Madea returns to the big screen in Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail.”  The film shot to the top of the box office charts at number 1, bringing in an estimated $41 Million during its opening weekend.  This time America’s favorite pistol-packing grandma is raising hell behind bars and lobbying for her freedom.

After a high-speed freeway chase puts Madea in front of Judge Mablean, her reprieve is short lived as anger management issues get the best of her and land her in jail.  Her gleeful brother Joe couldn’t be happier at Madea’s misfortune.  But Madea’s other eccentric family members “The Browns,” rally behind her, lending their special brand of support “religion”.

Madea Goes to Jail is produced, written and directed by the infamous Tyler Perry.  The film stars Tyler Perry as Madea, Joe, and Brian, Derek Luke as Joshua Hardaway, Kesha Knight Pulliam as Candace Washington, David Mann as Brown, Tamela Mann as Cora, RonReaco Lee as Chuck, Ion Overman as Linda, Viola Davis as Ellen, Judge Mablean Ephraim as herself and Judge Mathis as himself and so many others.

As always, Tyler has a spiritual undertone for all of his films.  This film utilized the “forgiveness theme” throughout as the bottom line.  He showed how if one wants to move on with their lives, move on from the pain that binds, move forward to reach their next life goal, they should eliminate the hold and/or bind that grasp them.  In that, forgiveness is one of the most powerful actions one can take.  If each person who sees this film begins to forgive the person in their life, (or who was once an instrumental part of their lives), and make a conscious decision to no longer be a victim, they will win the battle.  They will be able to move forward in their life.  For as long as one holds (in particularly in their minds-eye) another person or situation responsible for what has or is going on in their lives they will continue to be a victim.  It is not until one lets go of the hurt, the pain that binds that they are released from that hurt and can move on.

It’s rare if ever that we pay for a movie and receive a gift well, that’s exactly what you’ll get when you go to see Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail”.  You go to the movie, pay the fee to watch the movie and get a life lesson from it, now that’s well worth the bucks!

I had the chance to sit down and talk one on one with Kesha Knight Pulliam about the unique character she plays in the film, our dialog follows.

Kesha, did you audition for this role?  How did this role come about for you?

I actually play a character on Tyler Perry’s House of Pain and he gave me a call and asked me if I wanted to do the movie.  He said he was writing a new film and had me in mind for a role.  At that time he had me in mind for the character of Linda, who’s the fiancé of Derek Luke’s character Joshua.  So, he went on to tell me about the movie and about the other characters then I thanked him for considering me but I told him I really wanted to be Candy.  Candice is the role for me.  He just kind of listened and said if you believe in yourself, believe that you can do this, then I believe in you and so that’s how it all got started for me.

After watching the film, I thought you did a phenomenal job in your portrayal of Candice but your looks was too pure and beautiful to be a crack-head that’s been on the streets for about 5 years.

I did not look beautiful.

Yes, you did look beautiful.  Your pearly-white teeth, innocent doe-like eyes and flawless skin was a dead give-a-way.

I think that the audience will see the wear and tear of my character being on the streets.  I think Candy was definitely a beautiful girl, but I don’t think her whole beauty came through until the end, until she got clean and was in jail and kind of getting her life together.  Definitely the shots when she was in the streets, I think the make-up artist and the design team in terms of the costume and everything did a good job of making me look the part.

What was it about the character of Candice which caused you to really want it?

I just wanted to do something that was a stretch and I really found this role as being that.  So, I was kind of up for a challenge in my career to do something very different than anything I did before.

How did you go about preparing for this character?

Well, I do live in Atlanta, I’m very familiar in terms of I went to school at Spellman, which is the West End, not far from the metropolitan area where Candice would’ve strolled.  So, of course I’m familiar with that.  However, I did talk to someone who had struggled with drug abuse and heroin addiction in addition to prostitution, who had gotten their life back together.  You know people ask me that consistently but I think the themes of the movie are very consistent with everyday life and everyday people in terms of being in a situation where you’re wondering how do I get myself out of this.  You know being so far gone that you don’t know what’s the first step to take to get right or to make a change.  Not necessarily to get right but just to make a change in direction from your current path.  I think you can, as a person, regardless if you have drug issues, prostitution issues, the variety of life and having trials and tribulations, you can take those experiences and focus them into even this situation.

What are your thoughts on why Candice classmates teased her?

You know how people around that age are… I mean I went to college and a lot of times if anyone who’s different, if you don’t have the freshest hair, new sneakers, or the hot gear, it could be any number of things, it’s very much that kind of mentality sometimes of people.  So, if someone’s a little different from what the status-quo is, they can be opened to be ridiculed.  So, it may have been something as simple as she didn’t have the newest, hottest stuff.  You kind of like can use your imagination.  For me, I just looked at it if you’re from a small city from kind of like a poorer place and then you come to this big school where you have people who come from privileged backgrounds and you have so many other different people that are very different from yourself, sometimes you can be opened to ridicule and to that sort of thing.  So, she was the one who didn’t quite fit in.

In regard to the relationship between Joshua and Candice which blossomed throughout the story, would you say they were always in love but didn’t know how to tell each other?

Yeah, I don’t know if it was that as much as it is you know how it is growing up you may have that person who is just your friend who you grew up with, who you knew from when you were knee-hi to a grasshopper as they say, so, it may not have been a romantic thing back then but there’s a certain amount of love, and admiration with respect that you have for this person.  Who’s almost like a brother or a cousin or what have you.  And sometimes that can translate, you know you can meet later on in life and it’s like wow.  The basis of all love and romantic relationships is friendship.

This question is a little off of the subject, what did you major in at Spellman?

I was a sociology major with a concentration in film.

Have you had a chance to use your sociology degree since acquiring it?

I just like sociology, I mean the study of people and how they interact in different social groups and settings.  That’s pretty much my job as an actress is to bring that real life interaction to real life.

How easy or difficult was it for you to attend Spelman after being on the Cosby show?

I enjoyed Spelman.  I don’t think it’s about fitting in per se.  Everyone has different life experiences which make them the person that they are and you know no two peoples are the same.  So, I definitely enjoyed going to Spelman, I learned a lot.  People grew up with me on television so that’s a different kind of animal, some people had preconceived notions of how they thought I would be or… it’s a mix, but at the end of the day I’m happy I went and I have no regrets.

I’m happy for you as well.  What’s next for you, I know you’re still doing House of Payne?

Yes, I’m still doing House of Payne.  I’m about to start a production company, Pull Penn Production, so right now I’m really concentrating on that and my company and putting together some great projects.

Does Pull Penn produce live stage plays?

No, not live stage plays per se.  It’s a television film production company.  So, we have some stuff that we’re developing our website and it’s going to go direct to web.  In addition we have some television projects coming down the pipeline, so we have a few different things that we’re working on.

Do you still interact with some of your cast mates from the Cosby show?

Yeah, I probably speak with Tempest Bledsoe and Malcolm Jamal Warner the most who played Vanessa and Theo.

Thank you for your time and welcome back to the motion picture world!

Thank you.

This completes the dialog.

I’d suggest any and all that were unable to see the film in its opening weekend to go out and see it now; take friends and family, it is fabulous and well-worth your money and time.

For comments and inquiries, please send e-mails to Stephanie R. Green at the following e-mail address: SRG4Ent@aol.com

This story is filed under: Entertainment, Shades of Green

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