Now you see it, now you don't.
That was the case with the beach near a Nova Scotia fishing village that doubled for posh Martha's Vineyard in the comedy "Jumping the Broom" now in theaters.
The sandy strip, which served as an impromptu football field for some scenes, was available to cast and crew for only three to four hours a day because the tide would erase the beach.
"When we would get there in the morning, there would be no beach," actor Laz Alonso recalled in a phone interview. "Around 11 o'clock, all of a sudden, the beach would appear and we'd have to run up there and shoot as fast as we could because by about 2:59, that tide was creeping and by 3:05, there was no beach."
In "Jumping the Broom," Mr. Alonso and Paula Patton play an engaged couple whose families meet for the first time at a weekend wedding on Martha's Vineyard.
The bride-to-be comes from Old Money -- her parents are played by Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell -- while he hails from working-class Brooklyn. Loretta Devine is his down-to-earth mother, a postal worker.
The similarities between Mr. Alonso and his character of Jason Taylor are remarkable.
"This character grew up in a single parent home and so did I. This character lost his father at the age of 12, as I did. This character went to Howard University and majored in business, as I did. There's just so many parallels between myself and Jason Taylor, that when I read the script, it almost felt like it was written about me.
"There were moments where there was very little acting because I've been in a lot of those same situations that he found himself in," he said, caught in a tug of war between his old neighborhood friends in Washington, D.C., and his new college classmates from Howard.
Mr. Alonso worked on Wall Street at an investment banking firm and started a marketing business before pursuing acting and scoring roles in projects such as "Avatar," in which he famously played Na'vi tribesman Tsu'tey, "Fast & Furious," Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna," and A&E's "Breakout Kings."
"Jumping the Broom" was not the first time Ms. Devine and Mr. Alonso shared a set. They were part of the ensemble in 2007's "This Christmas."
"The thing about Loretta is, Loretta is in character all the time, even when she's not on the set. She's a method actress and very quickly, Loretta became my mom and she let me know if I went into town and I saw her in town and I didn't call her to tell her I was going to breakfast, I was going to get told off and Loretta didn't care.
"She's in her world and that's why her work is just so flawless, because she lives her character. So it was great to play her son," and he still addresses her as mom when he sees her today.
As his character's future mother-in-law, Ms. Bassett refused to bow -- or stop -- for the foghorns or the fog that threatened to muffle sights and sounds during the shoot.
"Angela Bassett shows everybody how it's done. There was a foghorn going off during her lines and she literally would pause, allow the foghorn to do what it did and she would continue her lines, in character, not breaking a single thought process. ... She would do this scene after scene. OK, this is why Angela Bassett is who she is."
"Jumping the Broom" takes its title from a ritual dating to the days when slaves in America were not allowed to marry. The practice formalized their unions and now symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and welcoming the new.
The movie is one of three wedding romcoms arriving in theaters within a week and on the high heels of the real royal fairy tale. "Something Borrowed" also opened last Friday while "Bridesmaids" walks down the aisle Friday.
"I think the beauty of our movie is just because there are African-American people in the film doesn't mean that it's solely an African-American movie. I enjoyed 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and I am not Greek. I loved 'Meet the Fockers' and I am not Jewish."
Moviegoers may relate to the idea that two people falling in love is no guarantee their families will do likewise. They may look alike but come from different economic backgrounds, rival cities or across other divides.
"It just tells a very general story of two families that come together and they just don't see eye to eye, up to one thing to bond them all and that's love."
Director Salim Akil and writers Elizabeth Hunter and Arlene Gibbs gave the cast license to improvise or, as Mr. Alonso says, to decorate the provided cake with frosting and sprinkles. "If you don't have a strong foundation, then you can do all the ad-libbing in the world and it's just going to make no sense."
It was "Avatar" that upped the ante for Mr. Alonso. "I still have to go in and fight for these roles. It has by far allowed me to start getting in the conversation and in talks for leading roles."
That has been the case, even though director James Cameron edited out Tsu'tey's big moment.
"My death scene was Jim's favorite, favorite scene in the movie. ... He was so upset at having to cut it, but it just slowed down the war because it was during this great, grand finale war, he didn't feel that it did my character justice to try to slide in a death scene with all this action going on.
"He and the editors, when they cut this scene, they were in the booth crying when my character died," Mr. Alonso said. ''To see this strong, invincible warrior die honorably was something that he was very moved by, he really wanted to give that character his proper burial."
The filmmaker pledged he would find a way to restore it and he did, on the DVD and in the re-release with nine additional minutes. The death scene was resurrected, and Mr. Alonso's career has never been more alive.
Movie editor Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632. Read her Mad About the Movies blog at www.post-gazette.com/movies.First published on May 8, 2011 at 12:00 am
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11128/1144653-60-0.stm?cmpid=movievideo.xml
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