Tyler Perry In His Own Words

On His Motivation for 'Family'
"Whatever stories are coming to me, I'm going to tell them. I'm going to go in a bunch of different directions over the next few years. This one was about my own personal life at the time. I was going through some things about whether I was really enjoying my life. I put that all in this film. Don't just exist, but live. Live every day like it's your last and enjoy your life. Life is short."


On His Core audience relating to 'Family That Preys'
"They're going to love it. It's not as much comedy in it but it's still a Tyler Perry movie."


On Kathy Bates
"I was really, really honored that she decided to do the film. She was phenomenal in it. She brought a great deal to it. I learned a lot from her."


On Alfre Woodard
"Alfre is no slouch herself. It was really amazing."


On Sanaa Lathan
"Poor Sanaa, she kept saying, 'Oh, Tyler this is so mean, I can't do it' and I said 'Do it, do it, do it, meaner, meaner, meaner.' [When I was casting] that character , I didn't have anybody in mind. But from the moment I started talking about casting ideas, her name came up and I said, 'Oh, I hope we can get her to do this.'"


On Whether He Wore A Fat Suit In Movie
"You know the great thing about playing this guy, I didn't have to be on a diet. I didn't have to workout, I just was thick. So that was all me, that wasn't a fat suit my friend."


On The Importance of His Character in the Film
"I just wanted to do a small role that would work on my acting chops. Not do too much, because I wanted to focus on directing the film. But he's an interesting character, but he's a guy that's given up on his dreams. So I hope he speaks to all the brothers who stopped dreaming, to let them know that dreams do come true."


On His Starring In The New 'Star Trek' Movie
"Well it's a small role, it's a cameo that J.J. Abrams called me and asked me to do. And when he called and asked me the timing happened to fall perfectly, I had some time off and I worked it out. But it's the commander of the star fleet, and it was really, really cool. I'm hearing great things about it, I haven't seen it, I can't wait to see it. So we'll see what happens with it."


On His 'House of Payne' TV Series
"Yeah, it started off really rough because the characters had to gel and people had to get together. So there were a lot of people that didn't like it in the beginning, but I'd ask for fans to give it a minute. And I'll tell you within the next month the rating just started getting better and better. The rating beat a lot of shows on CW, so that's really great."


On Keshia Knight-Pulliam Joining The Cast
"Yes, she and Lance Gross, their characters just got married on the show. So she's joining the cast."