When Tyler Perry first penned the script for A Jazzman’s Blues over 25 years ago, he had big names in mind for his potential cast. Along with Halle Berry, the writer, director and producer had a fantasy line-up that included “Will Smith, Diana Ross, Sir Ben Kingsley,” he told Krista Smith in a new episode of the podcast Skip Intro. 

Today, he can’t imagine any other leads than Solea Pfeiffer and Joshua Boone. “Finding them was pivotal in me wanting to do the film,” he said. “I was looking for somebody who could carry it, and also understood it.” 

Boone and Pfeiffer, who play star-crossed lovers Bayou and Leanne in an epic forbidden romance, hit all the notes. Plus, as a seasoned musical performer (she played Eliza in Hamilton’s national tour and West Side Story’s Maria at the Hollywood Bowl), Pfeiffer knew how to combine the film’s dramatic period elements with the jazz music that weaves its way through.

“I don’t like seeing a period piece when the actors are very modern,” Perry said. “They don’t understand that it’s in the body language, it’s in the hair movement, it’s in the eyes. It’s not just in the words; it’s in every moment. So to find Broadway actors who completely immersed themselves in it and understood it, I was like, ‘OK, I got the right team now.’ So it made it incredibly special for me. My hope is that they become huge stars.”

Perry knows a thing or two about that. As Smith points out in the podcast, over the years he has helped launch the likes of Tessa Thompson, Lance Gross, Jill Scott and Mary J. Blige. He also supported the late legend Cicely Tyson by casting her in A Fall from Grace in the final years of her life. 

Still, waiting for the perfect cast to come along isn’t the only reason it’s taken over two decades for Perry to finally take the leap on his passion project. “For a very long time, I was very worried about the bottom line, because I knew that as a creator, you don’t get many flops,” he said. “I was focusing on the things that would work and grow the business. I held it and I held it and I held it. And then, as of late, watching this assault on Black American history, banning of books, the watering down and trying to homogenize slavery — all of those things have really spoken to me. And I thought, ‘Now’s the time to tell this story.’ ”

A Jazzman’s Blues features original songs by Ruth B. and Academy Award nominee Terence Blanchard, as well as choreography by Debbie Allen. The film premieres on Netflix on Sept. 23. Why not treat yourself to a Tyler Perry Film Festival? 

For more great celebrity interviews, check out Skip Intro on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

A Jazzman's Blues Trailer