It’s easy to argue that it’s common knowledge that Sanaa Lathan is a complete badass. But for those sadly not in the know, let me just name some of her films: The Best Man, The Wood and Brown Sugar. Oh yeah, and a small, perfect love story of our time—Love & Basketball. The actress' badassery really shines playing Monica Wright, a basketball player, who out-balls pretty much any man who comes into her path.
Lathan always manages to combine the toughness of her roles with an utterly captivating vulnerability, a killer combo that she also brings to the The Perfect Guy, in theaters now, a film that turns her romantic resume on its head. She plays Leah, a powerful career woman, who upon breaking up with her boyfriend Dave (Morris Chestnut) who won’t commit, meets Carter Duncan (Michael Ealy), a guy who is certainly too good to be true. Their initial spark is passionate, sexy and overwhelming—culminating in a relationship that quickly frays once Leah gets some much needed insight into Carter’s true nature. In the vein of classics like Fatal Attraction, things quickly devolve for the worst, leaving Leah completely vulnerable to Carter. It's a fun, campy, tense, sexy thriller that’ll leave you screaming at your screen. Getting this and The Boy Next Door in one year is a true blessing.
Complex sat down with Sanaa Lathan to talk The Perfect Guy, “erotic revenge thrillers,” and the everlasting legacy of Love & Basketball.
You’ve been in some of my favorite rom-coms and one of my favorite romantic dramas, Love & Basketball. I feel like The Perfect Guy really turns that entire trope on the head. Is that one of the reasons why you chose to do this film?
Yeah. For me, the idea came to me with the head of the studio, over dinner. He just pitched the idea and I was like, that’s fabulous. It seems like a formulaic thing, but I love the twist at the end, which we don’t have to reveal. I like the idea because there’s that whole thing that happens with people—men and women—where in this day and age you want things so quickly. We want things now and sometimes we’ll overlook the signs.
I love the fact that I got to play so many colors as Leah. From the romance to the hot steamy whirlwind that she has with Carter to the suspense. Then having to really become empowered with herself and find her own strength. It’s the whole idea that the only person who is going to save you is yourself.
I know I love watching these type of films, but I think sometimes it seems problematic to see your fellow ladies being maniacally stalked. Do you wonder what the appeal is for women towards these very specifically revenge-focused films?
I think it can be a metaphor for any kind of disempowerment that we feel, whether that’s emotional or physical. It could be disempowerment in the workplace and I think that entertainment can be cathartic. Maybe there’s something in that that gets out the frustration of what we have to go through and struggle as women.
I mean it is an erotic revenge thriller. What else could we even categorize it as?
I love that.
Speaking of that genre, do you have favorites?
Fatal Attraction. I love it. We watched Fatal Attraction and we really loved the subtleties within the drama. We used it as a bar. It’s Adrian Lyne, right? He also did Unfaithful, which I really liked. It’s so good.
You should check out Body Heat.
Oh. I love Body Heat. Kathleen Turner. Oh my god. She sizzles off that screen.
Speaking of hot, Michael Ealy is so scary in this. Did that seep into the energy of shooting the film?
Absolutely. He’s such a great guy and we developed it together, so we really got to get to know each other in the process. It was crazy because there would be days, especially when we were shooting the more heavy stuff, where I would just have to stay away from him. I would look into those eyes and I was like, he’s not there. As beautiful as those eyes are, they can also be chilling and terrifying.
Did you do anything specific to prep for this role?
I’ve had situations like Leah’s. I mean not in that exact situation, but I’ve had scary situations being in the public eye. It happens. So I knew I had gone through similar things that she went through with the justice system and feeling frustrated.
I’m glad that you brought the justice system up because that was one thing that made me so infuriated when I watched the film. That scene when Leah goes to talk to the detective and he’s just like, there’s nothing we can do. It was this very small moment, but felt like it was very much critiquing the system.
That’s really real in terms of our laws about restraining orders and stalking. It’s really hard. It’s harder than you would think.
I think the film really gets that across. I feel like I haven’t really seen that that pronounced in many of these type of films.
Yeah. A lot of these genre thrillers just skim the surface. That’s something that we wanted to do—we wanted to make that edge of your seat, commercial, popcorn thriller. But we also wanted it to be a little deeper, a little more elevated, fresher.
Leah’s arc in the film is really echoed in terms of her costuming. I don’t know how much you were involved in that, but I think that you can see in the beginning when she is in blouses and pencil skirts and then towards the end of the film she’s just in t-shirts and renegade boots. Was it purposeful?
Hell yeah. She had to get business done. She was a polished and driven career woman, but then she has to become a warrior.
She really does become a warrior. Did you have a body double for a lot of the action at the end?
We did have stunt people, but I had to do a lot of it. I really like the fact that it was a real fight. You can’t really fake that stuff. That kind of stuff is always scary because your adrenaline gets going and someone always gets really hit. I was bruised up and sore after we shot that.
Do you think a perfect guy exists?
No. And I’m sure for men a perfect girl doesn’t exist. We are human and we are imperfect. I do think that there are people who are great matches for you. I don’t think you should searching for the perfect person but definitely your match.
So, for what’s up next, can you give us any scoop on The Best Man Wedding?
It’s so funny. It’s one of the blessings of that movie doing so well: we are all working. So it’s been a challenge to schedule it. So who knows when it is coming? But I think it will be fun.
People love The Best Man so much, but people really love Love & Basketball, myself included. I know that the anniversary was fairly recent, does the legacy of the film surprise you in any way?
Every day people come up to me and are like, “That’s Love & Basketball!” It feels really good. It’s truly flattering. We had no idea. We were just making a film. I was just trying to get through those basketball scenes without looking like a fool.
You look like you play basketball really well.
I worked my butt off, so I’m just grateful. It’s a whole other generation. I’m grateful that people want to watch it over and over again. That means we did something right.
Why do you think it has become so timeless?
It’s a classic love story. I think that anybody can relate to this. There’s this whole idea of her having a dream that seems really outside of the box, to be a basketball player but still wanting to fight for her man. I think that’s beautiful. It’s definitely the American Dream—that we can have it all.
You’ve collaborated on so many projects with Gina [Prince-Bythewood]. Do you have plans to work with her in the future?
I hope so. That’s my girl. Love her. I really hope so.
I got to interview her for Beyond the Lights and she’s so incredible. She recently tweeted about how if you watched, say Notting Hill, Beyond the Lights didn’t come up as a recommended romantic drama. She was tweeting about how she felt that films with primarily black casts are relegated…
Yes. We have to change the language, we have to change our thinking. These are American movies. People of all races watch them, enjoy them and are entertained by them. It really is an old, backwards way of thinking. Hollywood is so far behind. TV has made many more strides in recent years, even way before that. When you look at the films in Hollywood, they do not reflect the world that we live in. There needs to be way more diversity. It’s about time. This is the 21st century. And the way that we talk about films, like calling Love & Basketball an urban film. The truth is that is not true. Just because we are black you are going to use the word urban? What does that mean?
Or to talk about the success of something like Straight Outta Compton as a fluke because it’s a niche film. Hip hop culture dominates world culture. All over the world they are using the language, the style, the music. All of it. It’s American. These are American movies. I’m excited about The Perfect Guy because this could be any race. It can be a multicultural cast, it can be a white cast, it can be an Asian cast.
In terms of films, do you have any interest in terms of directing or writing? Do you have plans to do that in the future?
Right now I’m fine with the acting and the producing. Directing is a whole other beast. I’ve delved into the writing world without writing—just by working with writers. I did that with this film and I have other projects I’m working on getting developed. I’m slowly going there. Right now, I don’t have anything particular that I would love to direct, but I will.
Good. We need more ladies out there.
Exactly.
