Malcolm Lee: director's new comedy brings plenty of drama to the big screen, too

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To produce his latest African-American "dramedy," film director Malcolm D. Lee worked and reworked his script. Then he found the perfect cast of actors to star in Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, set to open in February.

The first actor on board was Martin Lawrence as the title character, a successful talk show host/self-help guru who returns home to visit his oddly eccentric Southern family. There he encounters his serial-marrying sister (played by Mo'Nique), his wisecracking older brother t Michael Clarke Duncan), and a couple of southern-fried relatives, portrayed by Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps. Critically acclaimed actors James Earl Jones and Margaret Avery round out the cast as the patriarch and matriarch of the Jenkins clan.

"The movie isn't buffoonish or stereotypical," says Lee, dressed in a Phat Farm shirt and khaki shorts while on the film's set in Shreveport, La. "It's a comedy with dramatic emotional moments."

Lee, who is excellent at focusing on the key moments in African-American life, says that there are some universal elements in the film that are sure to resonate with all movie audiences. They include Roscoe's need to get approval from his father, Papa Jenkins, sibling rivalry and a classic love triangle. Joy Bryant co-stars as Roscoe's "citified" vegan girlfriend, and Nicole Ari Parker plays the role of the love interest he left behind.

The filmmaker's first movie, The Best Man (1999), was an intelligent romantic comedy, the kind that African-American audiences have longed for since Theodore Witcher's Love Jones (1997), with Nia Long and Larenz Tare. Lee also directed Undercover Brother in 2002, which he followed up in 2005 with the youthful Roll Bounce, starring Bow Wow and Meagan Good.

With Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Lee says that he feels "blessed" to have the best of both worlds for any director--talented actors and a good script. He began working on the script eight years ago. "The script is what gives the film heart and soul," says Lee, who admits that some improvisation took place during the filming.

How could it not? "You are always learning how to deal with actors," says Lee, who grew up in New York City. "They would always come up with something that made the line better. I made sure that they were not shackled by the script."

For instance, Lee says that James Earl Jones loved to laugh on the set, and that Lawrence went all out for his performance, "which generated a lot of laughs" in the movie.

Lawrence was not the biggest prankster on the set.

"Believe it or not, it was Michael Clarke Duncan," says Lee. speaking in a heavy voice to imitate The Green Mile star. "He would pull me to the side and say, 'Let me know when you are ready to go on so I can catch Martin off guard.' After the take, the entire set would erupt into laughter."

ABOUT MALCOLM D. LEE

Age: 38

Earliest film: A graduate of Georgetown with a master's degree from New York University film school, Lee was in eighth grade when he directed his first film, an animated movie about a superhero and a swamp monster.

Family ties: Malcolm worked on his older cousin Spike Lee's films, including Malcolm X (1992) and Clockers (1995). "Spike is the man who encouraged me to make movies. He's a mentor of mine."

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