Exclusive Interview: Think Like A Man’s Terrence J
Think Like A Man, the movie inspired from the book of the same name written by none other than Mr Steve Harvey, is coming out today to theaters today with a star studded cast that includes Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, Regina Hall, Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Hart and Terrence J.
In this romantic comedy, four friends want to gain the upper hand on their ladies when they discover the women have been using the famous book of Steve Harvey Relationship advice against them. Terrence Jenkins aka Terrence J plays one of the four “Michael” who also happens to be a mama’s boy and trying to make his relationship with Candace (Regina Hall) work.
Film Equals had the great pleasure to chat with Terrence about the movie, his character and his career in general. Check out what he had to say below and don’t forge to catch Think Like A Man which comes out to a theater near you today.
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‘Think Like a Man’ is coming out this weekend. That must be really exciting for you.
Terrence J: Dude, it’s my birthday (April 21st) , the film is coming out. I’m walking on water right now.
How did you get involved in the movie?
Terrence J: Well, I did a lot of stalking. I stalked Steve Harvey. I stalked Bill Packer, the producer. And I say that jokingly but there’s a level of seriousness in that. I heard about- well, I read the book and they announced that the film was being made almost two and a half years ago at an event that I was at. They made a big announcement at the BET awards and I remember seeing Bill Packer, the producer, that night. I told him, ‘Look, if there’s a movie, I need in.’ Tis is when I had no credits, no film under my belt or anything. He kind of just laughed it off but I stayed on him for almost two years. Long story short, when the film actually went into production, I did the table read for it and was able to nail down the job. So, for me, this job was a very long process in the making.
Let’s talk about, Michael, your character. He’s like the momma’s boy, so to speak?
Terrence J: Yeah. He is such a fun character. You know, I hope I’m in a position to play him again if we do another one. Working with the fellas, everybody had different things they brought to the table. And so there’s always that guy that’s your friend that just is always a little bit too close to his mom. Like he’s always just saying something and you’re looking at him and it’s uncomfortable.
It’s like, ‘Dude, you don’t want to go over to your mom’s house on Friday night.’ So he’s the guy always saying stuff like that. He gets a lot of laughs in the film and he’s a the butt of a lot of other jokes because he is a momma’s boy. So I think that people are going to enjoy him because everybody knows somebody like him. I think he’s going to be a lot of fun to watch.
So you did mention the ensemble cast. How was it working with all these great actors?
Terrence J: I got a chance to work with people that have years of experience. Kevin Hart is going to be known as one of the new kings of comedy. I got to work opposite Regina Hall whom I admired for so much time. Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, I mean just everybody on this cast was amazing. I’m just happy that I got the opportunity to work with all of them.
So let’s talk a little bit about the central premise of the movie that a woman should act like a lady but think like a man. Do you agree with it?
Terrence J: I think every relationship is different. I think that what I take from that is that whenever you’re doing anything, you should always put yourself in the other person’s point of view so that you can do it better.
If you’re out hunting for deer, right? If you think like a human you’re not going to catch any deer. You’ve got to think like a deer in order to catch one, right? You’ve got to try to think where the deer is going to be, what the deer is doing. You’ve got to track the deer down if you want to catch it. Whatever you chase in life, you’ve got to think like it if you want to get there.
Men, we know how women think because we’ve been programmed by women for years. Every man has had to watch ‘The Notebook’ because of some girl he was dating. Every man has had to watch ‘Devil Wears Prada’. Every man has had to watch an episode of ‘Sex & the City’. But women, in the past they haven’t taken as much time to learn about the men’s mind. So this film breaks it down so that the women can know what we’re thinking. And we can all be better people in a relationship.
So essentially what you’re saying, it goes the same for men. They should act like a man but also think like a lady from time to time?
Terrence J: As a man, you have to learn how to think like a woman. You’ve got to think like a woman if you want to be a good man in a relationship. You have to put yourself in her shoes sometimes. And that’s all that the film is saying is that you’ve got to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Yeah. And speaking of upcoming projects. Can you talk about some of your other upcoming movies, as well?
Terrence J: ‘Sparkle‘ comes out right after this one, in August. I have a small role in ‘Sparkle’ but I’m very proud of it. And I’m very proud of ‘Sparkle’ as a film. I think people are going to really like ‘Sparkle’. Being able to be on film with Whitney Houston was something I’ll always cherish. I’m excited about that.
And then the next film is called ‘Battle of the Year: The Dream Team’ and that’s really exciting. That is an interactive 3-D dance film. And there’s really never been anything like it. I was on set withc Chris Brown who did some amazing, death defying stuff I’ve never seen. And I think people are going to go into that movie theatre with a newfound respect for him.
If you could work with any director or actor, who would it be?
Terrence J: It would have to be Big Will [Will Smith]. An amazing actor. And director? I’ll go with Martin Scorsese. He has a lot of good movies. I love Scorsese and also the big one, Spielberg. I mean that’s about as big as it gets.
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Think Like A Man comes out to theaters today Friday April 20. Check out the trailer below:
