Actor Regina Hall (Scary Movie) stopped by to talk about her latest film People Places Things, written and directed by James C. Strouse (Grace is Gone).
The film stars Jemaine Clement as Will Henry a newly single graphic novelist balancing parenting his young twin daughters and a classroom full of students while exploring and navigating the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him. Regina plays Clement’s love interest.
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ABOUT REGINA HALL
Staking claim on her fame with her role in the comedy-horror spoof Scary Movie, Regina Hall has frequented the big screen in roles that far from betrayed her age. Born in 1971 in Washington, D.C., Hall earned a degree in journalism from N.Y.U. before embarking on a film career. In 1997, she began appearing in commercials at age 26, and then made the giant leap into movies. Her recurring role in Scary Movie and the sequel Scary Movie 2 exhibited the 30-year-old’s ability to maintain her youthful appearance, as she portrayed the high-school-aged Brenda Meeks. Hall’s first film role had come in 1999 with a small role in Malcolm D. Lee’s drama The Best Man. The following year, she made several film appearances, including her starring role in Scary Movie. In addition, she played small parts in two films directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the drama Love and Basketball, and the TV movie Disappearing Acts, featuring Sanaa Lathan and Wesley Snipes. In 2001, Hall’s list of credits grew to include her first television role, as Corretta Lipp on the prime-time drama Ally McBeal, which was a recurring role for several episodes. Also that year, Scary Movie 2 was released, in addition to the Mandel Holland comedy The Other Brother, featuring Hall as Vicki. One year later, she starred in the action-drama Paid in Full, directed by Charles Stone III. She reprised her role as Brenda Meeks yet again for Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006), and played a supporting role in the 2009 crime thriller Law Abiding Citizen. The following year she had some success for her supporting role in Neil LaBute’s remake of Frank Oz’s black comedy Death at a Funeral, in which she co-starred with Danny Glover, Peter Dinklage, and Martin Lawrence, among others. She co-starred with Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy in Think Like a Man (2012), which was adapted from Steve Harvey’s non-fiction self-improvement book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
ABOUT HER MOVIE PEOPLE PLACES THINGS
When we meet quirky, offbeat Will Henry (Jemaine Clement), things are going pretty well. He’s making a decent living as a graphic artist and professor in Brooklyn and throwing an over-the-top fifth birthday party for his two lively twin girls, Collette and Clio (Gia and Aundrea Gadsby). But then he walks in on the twins’ mother Charlie (Stephanie Allynne), only to see his longtime partner in a compromising position with their mutual friend Gary (Michael Chernus), a shlumpy but surprisingly successful performance artist. In a heartbeat, Will’s world collapses.
A year later, Will has relocated to a tiny apartment in Astoria, and though he still puts in a good effort to mentor and inspire his students, his own artwork has grown as grim as his droll but self-deprecating sense of humor. When Charlie decides that Will needs to take on more responsibility in raising their daughters, Will finds that he lacks both the confidence and the experience to be an effective dad. And navigating the single life is no easy task either – at least until one of his more promising students, Kat (Jessica Williams) approaches him with a proposition. She sets up Will with her mother, Diane (Regina Hall) – something that both Will and Diane treat as a bit of a courtesy to Kat, rather than show much interest in each other.
An accomplished professor at Columbia, Diane isn’t much impressed with Will’s “comic book” art or his somewhat self-defeating attitude. But as time goes on, Will starts to find unexpected delight in the travails of fatherhood and bachelorhood. As he realizes that he’s going to have to learn how to both let go of and get along with Charlie, he also starts to open up more when he gets another chance with Diane, who sees the impact that he is having on her own daughter. Ultimately, it’s unlikely Will will find himself back exactly in the happy place he started – but he learns that there are always new people, places, and things that make the unexpected events in life that much more special and meaningful.
