To the delight of many women, Lance Gross is no longer engaged to model-actress Eva Marcille. But that doesn’t mean that marriage is no longer on the tip of Gross’ tongue. Especially not when he’s excited about promoting his latest flick, Our Family Wedding, which just made its way to DVD. Co-starring America Ferrera, Forest Whitaker and Regina King, the film takes a lighthearted look at the challenges involved when merging two families into one.
Gross took a moment to discuss the film with rolling out, as well as the perspective gained from sharing on-screen time with some of the most influential black men in Hollywood.
In Our Family Wedding, Forest Whitaker played your father. Tell us about that experience.
Working with Forest was a dream come true … the Oscar-winning Forest Whitaker. So I was nervous about that. He’s so humble and so laid-back and so down to earth. He found a good way to break the ice. He found out that I was a [Los Angeles] Lakers fan. So he took me to a Lakers game. So he scored a lot of cool points.
Did you learn anything from him while on set?
I just found myself watching [Whitaker] even in scenes I wasn’t in. I would just watch how he prepared his scene; how he got into character and the questions that he would ask the director. And I was amazed [by] the number of questions he would ask. He would ask any and everything about the character. That’s what I took from it. But I was a sponge just soaking it up, hoping that some of his talent would rub off on me.
You also work a lot with Tyler Perry. Have you learned a lot from him as well?
Tyler Perry? It’s been amazing [working on the show “House of Payne”]. He has been sort of a mentor to me just because I want to go on and write and direct and produce. That’s a good blueprint to follow that he’s created. And Tyler pretty much gave me my start, so that’s been a blessing to me.
Our Family Wedding was released to DVD, Tuesday, July 13. –dewayne rogers
