Film tidbits of salon

Black women are constantly striving for self-improvement

The reason why Mark Brown, the director and producer of this film, wants to adapt the stage version of Beauty Salon into a movie is to let more people know how this black woman continues to live with absolute confidence when facing the challenges in life through the influence of the big screen. Brown thinks: "I like to create some strong-willed female images in my works best, because my mother is such a woman, and I always regard her as the personality model of women in my works." Most black women can become the central force in the family structure, but their identity determines the double negations they often have to bear: blacks and women. " Brown hopes that this story can let the audience see a unique form of existence of black women.

The main content of the story focuses on Jenny, a single mother who runs a beauty salon independently with her son who has just entered elementary school, in Baltimore, Maryland. When the city wanted to demolish the beauty salon because of the planning, Jenny began her resistance. Her purpose was not only to save the space on which she lived-the job in the beauty salon was the only source of income that employees in her store could find, and through years of getting along with each other, they had become inseparable friends ... Salon was not the first cooperation between Mark and Vivica Fox. The two had a very pleasant memory in Two Can Play That Game. Brown said: "The most fundamental significance of this film is that compassion and kindness can also bring strength, and you don't have to go through painful torture."

Vicka Fox, who plays Jenny, is another producer. As for the reason why she is attracted by this story, it is very simple. In her words, "The script contains a lot of entertainment elements and has a pleasant power, which teaches us what kind of results will be brought when we persist in being brave in the face of adversity. This story also represents an opportunity to tell how a woman takes care of her family members, which is very traditional. At the same time, you can also see an interesting scene in the beauty salon in the film, and the strange hairstyles are enough to trigger your laughter. "

Throughout her acting career, Viveka Fox has played countless roles, and all kinds of roles, but few of them are related to "mother": "I haven't played a mother for a long time, but I like the role of Jenny very much. She represents the backbone of this society, has her own career, and has been respected accordingly. She also teaches her children to be a noble person. Fox once appeared in Soul Food as a qualified mother who devoted herself to housework.

In order to make the role of Jenny look simple but feel like a professional woman, Viveka Fox said, "I specially cut my hair short and experienced the service quality of the beauty salon all the time. After finishing all the shooting work, I actually went to the salon to braid my hair, and even forgot that my hair was too short to braid ... I lost my long hair for this film. " Fox, who was born in Minneapolis, USA, recalled her experience when she did her hair for the first time: "I was 13 years old that year, and my aunt introduced me to this world of beauty salons ... Her name was Mandam King, and she lived in Chicago. That experience was very special for me. "

Kym Whitley, another main actor in the film, also recalled the scene when she did her hair for the first time: "I did my hair for the first time in the kitchen of Mrs. Kelly's neighbor's house, sitting in her red chair, and she still has it ... I can't remember what tools I used at that time, except that Mrs. Kelly asked me to cover my ears with my hand to avoid being burned. Since then, I have a specific concept of' beauty salon' for the first time. " Whitley was born in Sudan, Africa, because his father, an architect, was responsible for building schools there. Later, whitley moved to Cleveland with his family and grew up there.

Although Hollywood has made many films about beauty salons in black communities, Kym Whitley insists that this film is of great significance to her, because her early acting career was spent on the stage, and later she personally directed a stage play "Living Room", also written by Sally Garrett: "In the process of filming, we experienced many interesting moments together. In addition to telling jokes and teasing each other, many meaningful humorous scenes were prepared temporarily for the shooting work. Of course, this relaxed working method also effectively dispelled the pressure brought by the tight shooting schedule. The main purpose of our group of actors is to bring some inherent qualities to the characters in the film, because they will all gain something in life through this story. These characters include: a homosexual, who often suffers rude abuse because of his sexual orientation; The role of Viveka Fox is being misunderstood by people in the same industry. There is also a girl who is obsessed with someone who doesn't love herself at all; My role is a bit like some kind of connecting bond. She tries to keep everyone together. "

Conceptualized African-American Community

All actors, including Viveka Fox, expressed their reverence for director mark brown for creating such a positive African-American community. Fox said: "Like one of the scenes, the little boy who plays my son had a fight with someone at school, and later I found out that it was because a white classmate was making fun of him ... Then my character Jenny began to teach her son black history because they couldn't learn related subjects at school."

David Odom, the producer, said that he hoped the audience would watch the whole film with a sense of enjoyment: "For a long time, the black community was no longer the favorite theme of the film industry. So we should be proud of this film. The story describes a female world in a beauty salon, which makes people feel warm, interesting and inspiring. "

Just like Barbershop distributed all over the country, beauty salons in black communities have also become places where women get together to gossip. From social news to celebrity gossip to big and small things in the community, these women talk about their hair ... Director mark brown once wrote two Barber Shops, and he hopes that through this story and various roles, those beauty salons can be truly reproduced.

Monica Calhoun plays a beautician who is carried away by love in the film, and her boyfriend is played by Terrence Howard. Calho explained her role: "She has a lot of work to do, always at the salon and at home. But everyone in the salon knows her own problems and has a lot of complaints about the way she handles the relationship with her boyfriend. Throughout the film, we can see big slogans written with the word "trust" everywhere in Baltimore, because the city is holding a huge campaign to clean up crimes, and "trust" is the slogan of this activity. Correspondingly, my character should also find the true meaning of these two words. "

Darrin Dewitt Henson's role in the film is a bit complicated. He was Jenny's competitor at first, but later he became her friend ... The man who always wanted to destroy Jenny's salon fell in love with her because of her kindness and hard work after meeting her.

"Salon" was shot in the downtown of Baltimore, and the production time in the middle was extremely fast, only taking 2 days. The whole crew wound up like a clockwork, and actually completed all the shooting plans on time. Mark brown, the director, recalled: "We got great support from Martin O'Malley, the mayor of Baltimore. He not only allowed us to go into the city hall to shoot, but even showed us his private office ... When we finished shooting, he invited all of us to eat crabs.

mark brown chose Baltimore as the background of the film because of the historical significance of this city-the famous leader of the abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass, once lived here. Brown said: "The beautiful architectural style is also one of the characteristics of this city. I have integrated all the historical features of Baltimore into the story ... Shooting this film is really a process of enjoyment. I hope the audience will feel the same when watching it."