Check out Three Facts You May Not Have Known
By now almost everyone has caught up on the “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” series. Many viewers spent the holiday break binge-watching the series and also sharing their views on social media.
Two months ago, we got the opportunity to attend the 2022 Urban World Film Festival. On its closing night, fans and film lovers gathered at the SVA theater to view the screening premiere for the new limited series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters.”
Shortly after the premiere, the floor opened for Q & A. The audience experienced a conversation between Director Malcolm D. Lee, cast members Lance (played by Morris Chestnut), and Shelby (played by Melissa De Sousa). Together the cast and audience went down memory lane (starting with the original The Best Man film) and also learned various compelling facts about the threequel and its cast members.
1. Director Malcolm D. Lee wasn’t sure about Morris Chestnut portraying “lance”.
As we all can imagine, casting decisions are typically made by casting directors, in Morris Chestnut’s case someone other than a casting director helped him land the well-known role. During the film festival, he stated, “The person I was up against for the part, he was a great actor and he was bigger physically. Malcolm wasn’t sure about me because he wanted Lance to be intimidating. It was actually Malcolm D. Lee’s wife who convinced him to select me, so thank you! I’d like to say thank you to his wife.”
“The person I was up against for the part, he was a great actor and he was bigger physically. Malcolm wasn’t sure about me because he wanted Lance to be intimidating. It was actually Malcolm D. Lee’s wife who convinced him to select me, so thank you! I’d like to say thank you to his wife.” – Morris Chestnut
2. The inspiration for the movie and the series comes from Malcolm d. lee wanting to normalize black life in America
When asked about his inspiration behind the movie and now series, Lee stated, “To this day I just want to normalize black life in America, and the world really to tell you the truth. I think from the beginning of The Best Man, I wasn’t seeing myself or the people that I went to school with… you know portrayed on screen the way that I thought was authentic. And so I wanted to see myself, I wanted to see my friends on screen. It was important for me to change the narrative about black men in particular.”
Furthermore, he added on by saying, “One of the reasons why I think The Best Man resonates so well with so many people is because a lot of people see themselves in all of our characters. If they don’t see themselves, they definitely see somebody that they know. And what you see in all the relationships (despite — how much we fight and argue) is love and respect for one another and I think people really relate to that.
3. Malcolm D. Lee has directed Many of our favorite Black films
Malcolm D. Lee has directed a long list of other black comedic films, that many of us have grown to love. These films include Roll Bounce, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Girls Trip, and Night School. They all share the concept of great, relatable black storytelling filled with amusement.
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