Quotes
The screenwriter's role was very instrumental, because it's difficult to take a stage play and adapt it for the screen.
The riot isn't seen in the movie, but it is alluded to. He has this one speech that gives a great sense of texture and paints a picture of what was happening in Harlem then.
The radio for these women is like television is for us today, which is really like looking at the radio.
The production team's first meeting took place at my house. I had ideas and a color scheme in mind, how I wanted the movie to look, because that has to be a real collaboration.
The look of the movie has a kind a muted tone to it at first, and then we introduce color to it as we go along.
The first thing that goes into shooting a scene is understanding what's on the page.
The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.
The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget.
That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.
Phylicia is the more restrained one and I am the one who is known as being more gregarious, loud, and colorful. It was pretty obvious to us who should play what part.
Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.
Making this movie was a great opportunity for me to explore high-definition. I'm glad I got to see what the challenges are, what makes it better. It works wonderfully.
It's rare to find parts where you see two women who relate to each other in that very natural way, with a lot of humor and pathos at the same time.
It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct.
It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.
In the film world you don't often get much rehearsal time. Only on big-budget films do you have the opportunity to rehearse for a week or two.
In scoring we have a lot that was not evident in the shooting. The radio is on all the time.
I'm respectful of other artists and I think there is a way to talk to actors to let them know they are making this. It all has to come through them.
I'm always moving forward.
I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.