The ever-working movie director Tyler Perry is in the process of starting a film project called For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.  Of course, Perry is well-known for his various films that starred his popular character, Madea, but he recently told HitFix that Madea won’t be appearing in this film.

He made the announcement of an all-star cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey for his new movie.  We were also informed by Black Voices that actresses Phylicia Rashad, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington and Loretta Devine will also be joining the cast along with singer-actress, Macy Gray.  The film was developed as an adaptation of the poem/play Ntozake Shange which features twenty African-American women who speak out on life issues they have to face in today’s society.  The play originally made its debut in 1975 and reached Broadway by 1976.

At the premier of Why Did I Get Married Too? last night, an announcement was given that filming for Colored Girls would begin late in June and Perry anticipates that it will be released in Winter of 2010/2011.  Perry also said that the film will be similar to Crash as it follows the individual stories of women, which will ultimately intersect in the plot.  In the main story, the characters meet by chance as one of them starts a For Colored Girls center, in which women will go through a 12-step program of healing from relationships and everything.  Thus, poetry will be seen and heard frequently at this center, bringing the women together in unity.  However, Perry was disappointed that actresses such as Halle Berry, Beyonce Knowles and Oprah Winfrey didn’t make the cast roster.  This film will appear under Perry’s new studio label, 34th Street Films, working with Lionsgate.

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