Hollywood Jesus had the chance last week to participate in roundtable telephone interviews with Tyler Perry and the cast of his new film. Initial questions were submitted and approved in advance, due to very limited time with each person, with spontaneous followups allowed. With only a couple exceptions, the participating journalists had not yet seen the film.

Yet I have to say that, in spite of the controlled circumstances, this was the first press event I have ever participated in that actually left me inspired. We hope that you will find our series of interview transcripts inspiring, too!

The following was my exchange with Gladys Knight.

Greg Wright: Hi, Gladys. It's really an honor to get to talk to you.

Gladys Knight: Thank you so much!

Greg: You've noted in the press kit that you're attracted to Perry's films because they "call on our desire to be right, to do right."

Gladys: That's absolutely right.

Gladys: No, I think it's intentional. Being intentional about doing what's correct is what's missing. You know, we have a lot of film out there and most, I find—and I don't have to be correct in my assessment—have so many [positive] avenues to be pursued; but people are afraid of being offensive because there are so many different religions or what have you. But we all have our choice. And I can tell you from this point right here: I have a God, I believe in Him and my savior Jesus Christ; I profess that, from the bottom of my heart. That is my choice. And I can tell you about that; but you don't have to believe it or embrace it if you don't want to. But I will not be afraid or ashamed to say that.

Other choice quotes from Gladys Knight, in response to other questions from the roundtable:

• In Tyler's movies, he ends with a family reunion, or he ends with a family picnic. And somewhere along the way he brings all of those people together and lets them know, "You need to get rid of these differences that you have." Be forgiving and start back loving each other because that's the bottom line. We need each other, whether we want to do it or not. And family was created, for this world, as a gift; we gotta make sure that we take care of that gift. That's how we learn things—through the different personalities and the different ways of thinking that the people in our families have.
• Music, in my opinion, is very spiritual. Anything that can touch the soul that deeply—and it must be [powerful], because when they make bad music, it makes you go another way, so it must be powerful. You know what I'm talking about? Because when they start talking about sexual healing and that kind of stuff, it starts turning people's minds to that, and their spirits to that. You know? So it's a very, very powerful tool, music is. And do you know why I know it must be powerful? Because they have a heavenly choir. I mean, don't that tell you something? They sang when Jesus was born! I think I was in it! That's how important music is. I've traveled all over the world, and let me tell you something. [Our music] has reached people who don't even speak our language; they're standing on their feet when we get through singing. But we sing in our language. So what does that tell you about this wonderful tool that we have called music? So we better be careful what we're singing, and we better be careful how it's presented, because we can ruin a nation or change one with the kind of music we allow to be presented.
• Wilma's base is the church, and every movement she made was made from the porch of the church. There were times I felt like I wanted to say to [April], "You need to come back to church," because originally in the script April used to come to church until she started to have some of her problems. So Tyler always makes that known: You've gotta get your spirit right if you're going to be successful in whatever you do. And I think that we've lost that to some to degree in our society today—to much of a degree. It's making a difference in our conscience. You know, our spirit connects to our conscience, and when we don't have a [clean] spirit, and it's not alive and we don't have that light, our conscience and the decisions that we make become dark. I'm worried about it. All the branding and the tattooing, and the this and the that, you know. It's not a good thing.