From director Malcolm D. Lee and screenwriters Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver, the outrageously funny and hilariously raunchy comedy Girls Trip follows four lifelong friends – Ryan (Regina Hall), Sasha (Queen Latifah), Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Dina (Tiffany Haddish) – who are better known as the Flossy Posse, as they travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival to rekindle their friendship. While there, they explore their wild sides with much partying, drinking and debauchery, and also show just how much they’re still willing to be there for each other, as they all decide what’s next for their lives.
During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Mike Colter (who plays Ryan’s charismatic husband and retired NFL player Stewart Pierce) talked about why he was excited to play a guy who’s up to no good, why this is someone that people can relate to, working with these four very talented women, and why this is a movie that everyone will enjoy. He also talked about delving deeper into Luke Cage, for both The Defenders and Season 2 of his own series, why his character needs to move on from his past, his trust issues, and being directed by Lucy Liu for the first episode back. Be aware that there are some spoilers discussed.
Collider: I have to tell you that I laughed so hard in this film, harder than I have in a long time, and so much so that I know I missed jokes, which made me want to see it again, as soon as possible.
MIKE COLTER: Yes, there are a lot of zingers and a lot of good ones in there, so if you’re laughing, you might miss them. There’s a lot of one behind another.
The guy that you play in Girls Trip seems like a nice guy who’s very charismatic, but you quickly find that you want to smack him for his behavior.
COLTER: Yeah.
Since you play a superhero in your day job, did you feel like you need to play someone a little bit more questionable to off-set that?
COLTER: I’m always looking for something different. I’m not always thinking about what it means or the perception. I was excited because of the people that were involved, like Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver, the writers, the director, Malcolm [D. Lee], and obviously Will Packer, the producer. I liked all those guys and it seemed like a great project to be involved with. From the standpoint of the character, I don’t look at the character like he’s bad, or anything like that. I’m not judging him. I’m trying to figure out how he gets in the situation that he’s in and make sense of it all. This is just something that’s happened. It’s not all his fault. In his mind, I don’t think he understands that it’s wrong. He doesn’t look at it from the same point of view as the audience, so that’s how I try to view him. As far as deviating from the other characters I’ve played, I do want variety, so I enjoyed it. I was a little concerned with being the hell or being the guy that people want to smack, but if you want to smack me, I guess I did my job.
When you read this script and learned what you’d get to do in this film, what were you most excited about getting the chance to do?
COLTER: Yeah, just being an asshole who’s not openly concerned with how he came across. There are a lot of people in the world who are selfish that don’t want to admit to it. That’s why people tend to connect with those characters and relate to him. You’re like, “Wait a minute, I’m not saying I would do that or co-sign with that publicly, but I can understand where he comes from.” Part of the reason you want to smack him is because he represents or makes you think about yourself a little bit. When you connect with a character like this, we find ourselves reminded of a part of ourselves that’s not so likeable. When you start stepping on toes and getting too close to home, people start to distance themselves from it. But for as many Stewarts as there are, there are characters like Larenz Tate’s character. There’s the knight in shining armor, and there’s the guy that people dislike. I’m happy to play the dislikeable guy this time.
How do you think Stewart would describe his relationship with Ryan? Do you think he sees it very differently from how she sees it, and how the audiences sees it as outside observers?
COLTER: (Spoilers discussed) Yeah, he has to see it that way because otherwise why would he be in it, why would he try to change, and why would he do things differently. He has to justify it in his own head and he has to make sense of it. I do think there’s a part of him that regrets it. That’s the thing about it. We shot a scene that didn’t make the final edit, and I understand why it didn’t, but ultimately what the character was trying to do was make amends and get back to where they were. Unfortunately, he went too far and this side chick, or Instagram ho, as it was described, got pregnant, and that’s a deal breaker. That makes it hard to work things out. So, I understand that the audience doesn’t like the guy. If he’d had another chance, he may have righted the ship. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that way.
This movie is hilarious and hilariously raunchy in unexpected ways. What would you say to guys who might be unsure about whether this movie is for them and if they’ll enjoy it?
COLTER: I think they’ll enjoy it because ultimately what’s really the connective tissues between the sexes in this movie is that the characters are pretty blunt and honest. It’s like being a fly on the wall on a girls bachelorette party or weekend. They’re not pulling any punches. Some of them have been single for awhile and they’re horny. Others are working and busy, but they’re unfulfilled. Everyone is represented. It’s just honest. They’re not acting like girls. They’re girls, but they’re not acting the way that people expect girls to behave. They’re just having a good time and having fun, and that may be something that’s going to make people recoil, at first, especially when you’re talking about guys. I think this will be a movie where girls are gonna go see it because it’s girls and they want the girl power and girl magic in it, but if you’re a guy, I think this will be even more enjoyable because it’s not really a chick flick. At the end of the day, the girls are the focal point of it, but their honesty feels like the kind of honesty you see in male movies. It’s unapologetically raunchy.
These four women have very strong, very big personalities. What was it like to work with them, but also to watch them work, especially when they were all together? Were there any times that you couldn’t help but crack up because of what they were doing or saying?
COLTER: Of course, yeah. Tiffany Haddish was always on. Even when the cameras weren’t on, she was on, all the time. Regina [Hall] is a lot of fun, Queen [Latifah] is great, and Jada [Pinkett Smith]. It was just a really good energy. People were happy to be there. I think people knew they were making something special and that people will remember. We knew this was going to be a summer movie that people could enjoy and really just kick back and forget about their worries and not think to hard, and just laugh a little bit. We wanted to get at least five or so moments where you laugh out loud, and I think we got more than that. I think we’re doing pretty well. With comedies, you have a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, when you shoot dramas, you can have a lot of levity with it. We have a lot of fun on our set. But when you shoot a comedy, you definitely let loose a lot because you can’t take any of it seriously. So, we definitely had a lot of fun.
When it comes to Luke Cage, how much fun is it to get to really dig in and play with the character for Season 2, now that you know who he is and don’t have to spend time establish him and his connection to this world?
COLTER: With Season 2 and The Defenders coming up, it’s a journey for all the characters. He’s found his way now. We’ve established the superhero thing and the fact that now he’s going to have to look over his shoulder. Once he resolves all the stuff from his past, he can just relax and start to live his life, as opposed to trying to hide who he is. A lot of it has been keeping it to himself. He was on the run with a criminal past, and even though he was wrongly convicted, you don’t want to deal with that. His love life is very complicated. His wife was killed and he holds a candle for her, so it’s hard to move on. He has a fling, here and there, but he has to really close that chapter of his life. All of that stuff starts to weigh on you, and he has to move past his past to get to his future. He needs to live from day to day and figure out who he is now. It’s difficult to shed all of that quickly because it’s a journey that everyone has to take. It’s not something where you can just snap your fingers and go, “Oh, I feel better now!” We’re not gonna put him in therapy, but we have to get him fixed a little bit before we can really explore the character.
We know that Lucy Liu took on the first episode of Season 2 of Luke Cage, as a director. Was she as bad-ass as a director as one would hope?
COLTER: Honestly, she was. She came in very guns ablazin’. She was very positive with lots of energy. She’s a sweetie. She’s really a sweetheart. She is very strong, and she has a strong vision, a strong point of view, and she’s a strong leader, but she doesn’t do it with that bad-assery that you see on screen. She does it with kindness and sugar. You get more flies with honey, right? And she was good like that. The crew was really willing to listen to her because she appeals to everybody. She had this vibe about her that makes you feel like she’s supportive and a positive energy. She’s an actor’s director because she’s an actress, herself. She’s very established and she’s been doing this for a long time, so she knows how to talk to the actors and get the most out of them. That’s what her real strong suit was. I enjoyed working with her.
Will having to work with Daredevil, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones in The Defenders change Luke’s outlook on things, at all, or will it just reconfirm how he already feels?
COLTER: It’s hard to say. Will it be therapy for him, or will it help him clarify his own viewpoints? To a certain degree, it will. But like anything, when you work with someone and you’re successful and you ultimately have the same goals, it builds a trust. For him, he has a big trust issue. I’m sure all the characters do, but specifically for him, he has a big trust issue. He’s been betrayed a lot and things haven’t worked out for him, so he has a trust issue, but I feel like this is going to help bridge that gap for him, emotionally. Hopefully, he’ll feel better when he comes out of it, by the end, and he’ll build toward being a better, more complete person.
Girls Trip opens in theaters on July 21st.