Fast Facts About Madea Goes to Jail
Tyler Perry’s Newest Installment in His Film Franchise
Feb 18, 2009
Another outrageous comedy by producer, writer, director, and actor Tyler Perry continues his successful film franchise based on his stage plays. This time, after a high-speed freeway chase and an angry outburst, the comical matriarch Madea (Perry in costume as a woman) winds up in prison.
While there, she meets a young drug addict and prostitute (Keshia Knight Pulliam) whom Madea befriends in her own unique way as she lobbies for release from her incarceration. A blend of comedy, romance, and drama, Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail also explores the subjects of spirituality and redemption.
Background Information About Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail
- The character of Madea Brown was first introduced on screen in Perry’s 2005 debut film Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which crossed over into mainstream audiences, and launched the successful series of movies.
- The character Madea then had a starring role in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion (2006) and a brief cameo in Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (2008). In Madea Goes to Jail, Perry again portrays the Southern matriarch as he did on stage and in the other films.
- The Brown family is comprised of characters from Perry’s stage plays, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in at major theaters in more than a dozen cities, originally to mostly African-American audiences.
- Principal photography for the film took place during five weeks on location in and around Atlanta, Georgia, and included an abandoned wing of a working prison and soundstages at Tyler Perry Studios.
About the Cast of Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail
- In addition to his behind-the-scene credits and the starring role as Medea, Perry also portrays Joe, Madea’s frisky septuagenarian brother, and Joe’s highly proper son, Brian. Perry required six hours of makeup to prepare for the role of Joe.
- Emmy-winning actor Keshia Knight Pulliam (who had a role on Perry’s television sitcom House of Payne, but is best known as Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show) stars as a troubled young heroin-addicted prostitute. Pulliam said in a prepared statement: “What’s so exciting about this role is getting the chance to play something that’s so different from anything I’ve ever done. People would never expect me to play a role of this nature.”
- Other cast members include Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher), Ion Overman (The L Word), Ronreaco Lee (Sister, Sister), Sofia Vergara (Lords of Dogtown), Vanessa Ferlito (Nothing Like the Holidays), Viola Davis (Doubt), and stage actors from Perry’s plays, David Mann and Tamela Mann.
- In the courtroom scene, Judge Mathis, the syndicated reality television judge known for his tough, no-nonsense ruling, joins the rest of the cast as he sentences Madea to anger management training and a long stay in jail.
- Likewise, popular clinical psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw plays a doctor who attempts to help Madea with her anger problem.
- Additional cameos in which people take Madea’s side in her campaign for freedom include Tom Joyner, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Michael Baisden, Steve Harvey, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail
- A sassy matriarch lands in jail and tries to make the best of it.
- Starring Tyler Perry, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Derek Luke
- Director: Tyler Perry
- Run Time: 103 minutes
- Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material, drug content, some violence, and sexual situations)
For more information about Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail, visit the official website.
 |
