After screening night one of the upcoming BET New Edition biopic mini series in cities such as Washington DC, and Philadelphia, a screening with cast members Elijah Kelley, Luke James, Keith Powers, Algee Smith, Woody McClain, Caleb McLaughlin, and Dante Hoagland along with the series director Chris Robinson and producer Jesse Collins came to New York (January 14th) to show the first two hours of the six hour mini series to lucky fans and press, as well as speaking about the project before and after the screening.
The New Edition Story will premiere on BET on January 24th.
What was your favorite New Edition look or moment to recreate in the mini series?
Algee Smith: Favorite look, man this is hard bro. Ok favorite look probably has to be when we were all coming off the bus, weโre all doing our solo thing and I had the cup in my hand and we were walking out, that was probably my favorite look. I got to pick my own glasses. That was lit, that was lit.
Elijah Kelley: All the high top fades. All the hair all the fashion. The Home Again tour album cover was really really nice to recreate. That was dope.
Keith Powers: I like the BBD overalls, that was very fun with the graffiti. The wardrobe and the art department did an amazing job recreating those. I think they need a lot of love when people see this film
Luke James: JG, when Johnny becomes JG. Like swag on one trillion you feel me, because early on Johnny Gill really thought he was cool, but then he became even cooler once meeting the guys and they evolved together then there was a swag that was born.
In doing your research and meeting with the guys, is there anything that you learned that you wish that could have been included but wasn’t?
Elijah Kelley: Thereโs so much stuff but we pretty much covered everything that the public should see, should want to know gonna be happy to know. I think everybody is gonna be happy to see the way we transformed individually. Everybody sang their own music Luke, Algee, Keith, Woody, Bryshere, even the kids Dante, Caleb all of us sang our own music. So we manipulated our voices to match them.
Algee Smith: Just a little bit about his mom that he personally shared with me but I can understand why it wasnโt. But other than that I feel that he put a lot about his life on the table, all of the guys did. Thatโs incredible.
What is one interesting thing you learned about New Edition or your character in particular while making this project?
Elijah Kelley: A dollar eighty seven cents coming off a tour. Thatโs crazy. After having success for two years on the road and hit albums and you get a dollar and eighty seven cents thatโs difficult to deal with.
Keith Powers: I didnโt know Ronnie was the smoothest dancer in the group and he was the best dancer so I learned that and I learned that he was shy when he was growing up. As when he got around NE Heartbreak his stock went up and you can actually see it if you look at the album covers and the interviews you can see he was coming out his shell. I think that was interesting.
What was most challenging about directing this New Edition biopic?
Chris Robinson: I forgot who it is but they said in order to make something great you have to have a plan and not quite enough time. So we had exactly that. We had an amazing plan not quite enough time we felt like we needed more pre prep, we felt like we needed more days to shoot. But we all took this leap to work doggedly on this project because we had so much love for it. It was challenging itโs a labor of love. But I think that all the great films through history, the great biopics, miniseries that we see you gotta know that it wasnโt about anything but love, that made the people behind the scenes want to be involved and made a director a producer a writer to want to be involved. This project is all about love. My love for music, my love for this group, being the very first concert I ever went to as a teenager what these guys represent in the culture and what theyโve brought to the world musically. So Iโm very blessed to be a part of this project.
When did you know that the cast was the right one for the project?
Chris Robinson: It happened really interestingly enough it happened just like the real group came together. Ronnie came into the group last, Keith came in last. Every single guy who came through we went to Boston, DC, New York, Atlanta to cast. With all the kids and all the bigs we put them through it. and itโs funny how it works out because at first I was like um questionable, I wanted Keith to play Ralph, and I was like Algee umm I donโt know Jesse was like Iโm telling you. But of course heโs the best Ralph [Algee] thereโs no question that he should have been Ralph his performance he embodied him. We were looking for Bobby Brown , imagine trying to find Bobby Brown and this guy is Bobby Brown. We searched all over the country and we got a recommendation from Fatima Robinson a friend of me and Jesseโs whoโs a choreographer. Heโs danced all over the world with Chris Brown and Fatima and on tv and then heโs a Instagram monster heโs got millions of followers., never knew it but he came in and he killed it. For his audition he came in and stood on the table in front of all the BET executives. But it wasnโt that you knew anything it just happened.
Jesse Collins: I think Chris really just made everybody.. it really prepared them for Brooke because he was all about mental toughness. Chris would have two people auditioning for Ralph then he would have them flip the scene, so your Ralph then ok now youโre not Ralph youโre playing opposite Ralph. So youโre competing against the person in the same scene in a little room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucf4aMqGtOk
