Kerry Washington provided an update on Tyler Perry‘s upcoming film that features an all-star cast. On Sept. 30 in Atlanta, while promoting her book Thicker Than Water, the star actress held a discussion session led by Perry at Tabernacle in the city’s downtown.
Washington packed out the enthusiastic venue and after the Q-and-A portion, she made an announcement.
“This man [Perry], I’m so grateful for you being here,” Washington told the crowd. “I want you to know that we did a project together that is going to come out next year. It is so important and so special and it’s one of the things I am most proud of that I’ve ever been [in].
“It’s a story called, may I say what it’s called?”
“Yup,” Perry said. “Yeah.”
“It’s called Six Triple Eight,” Washington said.
The movie was initially announced in December 2022, which would be Perry’s fourth movie with Netflix.
“It’s a story of the only Black female battalion to get sent overseas in World War II,” Washington said. “When you think about the film, when I think about this organization and I think about these Black women, these women of color all over the country, what you [Perry] are doing with this film is reminding Black women how much we matter and how much we deserve to be at the center of the story. So thank you.”
Both Perry and Washington received a standing ovation after the actress gave the media mogul his flowers.
In addition to Washington, the Six Triple Eight film’s cast reportedly includes Oprah Winfrey, Ebony Obsidian, Jay Reeves and Milauna Jackson.
Washington signed books for attendees before and after the event, and fresh from book tour stops in New York and Chicago, told fans she had another flight to catch after the event in Atlanta. The memoir has gone viral as Washington reveals her family secret of finding out the man who raised her wasn’t her biological father, and she was a product of a donor. Washington said her finding out the secret years well into her journey as an established actress lifted a weight off her shoulders.
“My mom said, ‘We’re so much closer, we’re so much more intimate and we’re less afraid to hurt each other,’ ” Washington said. “That was so powerful to me because what we’ve done as a family is we have locked arms and we are walking through hard stuff together now.”
