Yes, you read that headline right. First we had the reinvention of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire”b now comes a new take of an animated favorite ‘BeBe’s Kids’
Marquis Boone, the enterprising entertainment mogul and motivational influencer, had an idea over the summer. What if the iconic 1992 adult animated comedy film, ‘Bebe’s Kids’(that shot late comedian Robin Harris to stardom), was re-imagined as a real-life movie with a psychological thriller twist? So, Boone wrote a script and brought in Tailiah Breon, who recently directed the forthcoming Lifetime Network film Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas, as director. Boone, Breon, and their crew developed and launched pre-production in two months and then shot the film, Bebe, in Atlanta, Georgia over a four-day period. They felt that Halloween was the perfect time to announce the forthcoming ninety-minute feature.
The plot of Bebe revolves around a single mother with three kids. She struggles to understand why after each first date she never hears from her escorts again. Through a dark contemporary lens, the trailer perfectly brings to real life every animated character from the original film. Brent Black portrays Robin Harris’ character and leads a cast that also includes veteran actor George Lima, and Sarah Danielle Toran who has recently appeared in BET’s “Kingdom Business” and “Sacrifice” drama series. “Robin, Jamika, Lashawn, Kahlil, Leon and even Pee-wee were all casted perfectly,” Boone says. “They maintained all the characters’ looks, manners and wardrobe.”
Boone grew up watching Bebe’s Kids and wanted to use the trailer to explore the more serious topics the original film never touched on. “I wanted to ask the questions like who was Bebe and where was she? Why were these kids so bad? What was really going on in their home?”
Boone adds. “I wanted to create something as if Jordan Peele or Lena Waithe teamed up with me and made Bebe’s Kids into a thriller. I also wanted to explore the subject of inner-city-kids living in poverty and the effects it has on our children having to raise themselves and grow up faster than others.”
This trailer is not the comedy that many will remember. Instead, it takes the viewer down a path that deals with sexual abuse and African American family trauma. “I felt like growing up I always thought there was more to the story, more behind the cartoon that we laughed over,” Boone continues. “I thought, ‘man, we could really take this story and deal with some real life issues in a really psychological way.”
Take a look at the teaser trailer below: