Tyler Perry Really Needs To Stay Far, Far Away From Adapting "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf"

This is horrifying news. I have no problem with Tyler Perry directing an adaptation of this play, he's probably the only dude in Hollywood that can get this film made. I am completely horrified that he intends to adapt and write the screenplay.

One thing Tyler Perry has made clear in his successful career - that he has absolutely no idea how to present a black woman on screen that is not a blatant and old fashioned stereotype of either the loud-mouthed mammy, the slutty jezebel, the crack whore, or the long-suffering good Christian woman.

Not only is Ntozake Shange's most famous work extremely emotionally charged and culturally complex, much has changed for black women since the 1970s when the play was originally presented. Perry needs to understand Shange's original intentions, but modernize her views for a 21st century audience. I've seen nothing in his work that proves he has the capability to write a screenplay that will successfully achieve such a delicate balance.

There are all kinds of qualified sista filmmakers and writers that could be tapped to write this screenplay and capture the essence of Shange's work and the current state of black women in America. I would hate to see the legacy of Shange's signature work be crushed by the Hollywood machine.

Read Latoya Peterson's piece on this news and Alyssa Rosenberg's take as well.

Make sure to catch the early casting "news" - Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, and Jill Scott. All three of those names give me pause for different reasons, but I'm not going to snap on anyone until the final cast is named, but let me know what you think. I will say my first thought was, who's next, Sanaa Lathan, Jada Pinkett, and Gabrielle Union? LOL!

Only one thing is clear, it still sucks to be black and female in Hollywood.

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