LOS ANGELES -- Born and bred in Mississippi to a mother who loves movies, Tina Mabry, director of "The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat," fell in love with filmmaking when shown the medium's ability to connect her with her mother and the world at large. "Because she grew up in the Jim Crow South, you had these films, like 'Imitation of Life,' that she would get on the balcony and see over and over and over again," Mabry said. "Films started a conversation.
They let me start to really have a talk with my mom outside of what was going on on that screen." VIDEO : 'The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat' trailer: A trio shines Mabry connected with On The Red Carpet Storytellers Spotlight to discuss bringing friendship, representation and love to the screen for others as filmmakers once did for Mabry's family. The director came to the story of "The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat" in an unorthodox way.
Hollywood standout Gina Prince-Bythewood, known for "Love and Basketball" and "The Woman King," wrote the original adaptation of the book into a screenplay. She then gave it to Mabry, confident in the director after seeing her work on the 2009 film "Mississippi Damned" and reading some of Mabry's TV pilot work. From reading the book and Bythewood's script, Mabry knew it was the project for her.
"I saw myself," Mabry told Blake. "I saw my granny, I saw my aunts, I saw my friends. I saw all those things in those really layered deep, complicated, nuanced characters.
" Feeling such .