One Year Later - Still Tripping
Essence|July/August 2018

Take A Stroll Down Memory Lane And Reminisce About What Made Girls Trip Such A Crazy Good Time

Regina R. Robertson
One Year Later - Still Tripping
In July 2017, four fictional college besties (aka the Flossy Posse) set out to wreak cinematic havoc in Girls Trip. Actresses Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Tiffany Haddish brought their A-games so much so that when director Malcolm D. Lee and producers Will Packer and James Lopez peeped the reaction of their first test-screening audience, they had an inkling that they had a hit on their hands.

A year later the R-rated comedy not only topped off at $140 million worldwide, but it has debunked the ridiculous myth about films led by Black women not appealing to the general market. Bonus: Girls Trip also marked the first time an African-American female screenwriter’s work crossed the $100 million threshold (we see you, Tracy Oliver, who co-wrote the script with black-ish creator Kenya Barris). Now, as whispers swirl about a sequel, we’re revisiting the cast and creatives to talk about the magic behind the scenes and why we’re still laughing out loud.

REGINA HALL (RYAN)

Remember when Hall was marching down Royal Street with a second-line band and her girls in that long yellow dress? Well, she was really sick that day. Says Hall, “I had a fever and I was sweating, which means I was freezing too. I thought, How am I cold in hot-ass New Orleans? It was crazy.”

JADA PINKETT SMITH (LISA)

This story is from the July/August 2018 edition of Essence.

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This story is from the July/August 2018 edition of Essence.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.