Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise is back with A Madea Homecoming, which is now streaming on Netflix. The comedy doesn’t shy away from important topics and focuses on the graduation of Madea’s great-grandson, played by Brandon Black, who also decides to come out as gay to his family.
“Madea’s back — hallelujer! Tyler Perry returns with everyone’s favorite character in A Madea Homecoming, the newest film in the Madea franchise set to debut on Netflix. Writer-director-producer Perry stars in the film that centers around Madea’s great-grandson’s college graduation, though the celebratory moment hits a halt as hidden secrets and family drama threaten to destroy the happy homecoming,” says the official synopsis. “The film features all-stars of the Madea franchise, including Tamela Mann (Cora), David Mann (Mr. Brown), Cassi Davis Patton (Aunt Bam) as well as a guest appearance from iconic Irish actor Brendan O’Carroll, who matches Madea’s comedic prowess as Agnes Brown.”
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ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with A Madea Homecoming star and director Tyler Perry about the film, its themes, and how some of its funniest moments were developed.
Tyler Treese: Madea usually doesn’t have somebody that can really keep up with her. How was it going back and forth with Brendan O’Carroll’s Agnes and was it a lot of improv?
Tyler Perry: There was a whole lot of improv. I mean, you can’t put the two of us together and not expect there to be improv and working with somebody like Brendan. The guy is a genius and he reminds me so much of Robin Williams because he is so quick. It’s so fast. It’s so spot on. It’s so funny. To have those moments together, it was really great. I was really thankful he said yes to this.
The flashback scene with the young Madea was just so funny. I loved it. You have Mabel coming up. Is that gonna be a similar vibe with Madea influencing history?
No. The point of Mabel is it’s set in the seventies and I was gonna have a real actress to play the role. So it’s a different situation than that. That was just Madea poking comedy at the moment.
This film just had so much drama. It’s almost like a Jerry Springer thing with all these crazy engagements and such, but there’s this underlying core theme of family sticking together. What do you see as like the core of this film and the theme of it?
I think the theme is definitely that it’s about living your life. Living. Whoever you are, be it the mother who was with the younger man, be it the son who’s coming out, live your life. Life is so short, it’s but a moment. Get out and enjoy yourself. As Madea says, I wouldn’t do it now at this age, but back when I was there, I lived and had my fun. I think that’s the theme of the movie. Life is short, enjoy it.
It’s been remarkable that you’ve been playing Madea for decades at this point. Plays, TV shows, and films. How have you been able to keep her entertaining and just continually building off this character for so long?
Look, I started this in 1998, ’99, and I thought it would be over then. To see it’s still going, I’m blown away just as much as anybody else is, but she stays relevant. She keeps a pulse on what’s going on, from the Cardi B at the table to listening to hip-hop music and talking to kids. So, she’s still pretty hip.
The “W.A.P.” scene was just hilarious in the film. The ending has you performing some Beyonce, “Drunken Love.” How wild was that you recreated the whole performance?
Listen, I don’t smoke or do anything when I work, but I had to smoke a joint to be able to do that. So I had to really, in order to let go and get up there and do that, it was a bit nerve-wracking, but it was also fun. I realized that I wanted to do something crazy for the closing credits and Beyonce did Homecoming. So I thought, okay, let me just pay homage to that, and she loved it. So it’s all good.
What kind of prep goes into twerking?
Listen, a bunch of heat pads and everything for my hips, for sure.
Then my last question who came up with that knickers segment? That was just had me crying.
Brendan and I were on the phone and he said, “knickers.” And I said, “What’d you call me?” And I thought, oh, we gotta put that in the movie, and he fell out laughing and I fell out laughing. So I was like, okay, this has got to be in a movie.
