Friday, April 03, 2009

PERRY ADDS GLADYS KNIGHT TO "BAD"


Tyler Perry is keeping it moving right along when it comes to casting his next film based on his play "I Can Do Bad All by Myself". He's added Gladys Knight as well as Marvin Winans to the film. .

Perry, Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige, Brian White, Hope Olaide Wilson, Kwesi Nii-Lante Boakye and Frederick Siglar also will appear in Perry's adaptation of one of his early plays. The story line follows what happens when Perry's iconic Madea character discovers a 16-year-old girl (Wilson) and her brothers looting her home and sends them to live with their Aunt April (Henson), a hard-drinking nightclub singer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Knight will play Wilma, a kind of matriarch of the neighborhood and singer at Marshall Baptist Church, where Madea also circulates. Knight, Winans and Blige all will sing in the film, with Blige performing an original song penned by Ne-Yo.

Production is under way at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta for a Sept. 11 release.