*Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey are teaming up for their first feature film project with his latest movie, Netflix’s “The Six Triple Eight,” starring Kerry Washington.
We reported earlier that this is the story of World War II’s only Women’s Army Corps unit of color, which Perry wrote, directed, and produced alongside Nicole Avant, Angi Bones, Tony L. Strickland, Keri Selig, and Carlota Espinosa.
Per Netflix’s Tudum: “The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion contributed to the war effort in a unique way: by sorting through a three-year backlog of mail (17 million pieces of it!) that hadn’t been delivered to American soldiers far from home. In the face of discrimination and a vast, unfamiliar country divided by global conflict, these 855 women brought hope to the front lines. Given six months to complete the task, the 6888th accomplished their mission in less than 90 days, providing morale when the United States needed it most.”
“I had to find the right thing for her,” Perry said about Oprah while speaking to Variety at the film’s press junket on Tuesday afternoon. “All these years we’ve been friends, I knew we’d work together at some point, but I wanted to find something that was worthy of her. Because she’s not a Madea kind of girl. I don’t see her sitting there with Madea having a conversation.”
The filmmaker added, “To have this moment where she’s Mary McLeod Bethune, and what Oprah represents so many, as well as what Mary McLeod represented to so many during that day, it was appropriate,” Perry explained.
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According to Variety, Winfrey shares scenes with Sam Waterston as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Susan Sarandon as Eleanor Roosevelt.
Perry was inspired to create “The Six Triple Eight” after forming a connection with Lena Derriecott King, a former member of the group who passed away at the age of 100 in January 2024.
“We sat in her house for a couple of hours just talking, having a great conversation,” Perry said in a tribute video to King. “And when I left there I had a whole movie in my mind that I wanted to write for her.” Before she passed, Perry sat at her bedside and showed King an incomplete version of the film.
There are only two members of the 6888th Battalion remaining, Fannie McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson.
In a statement on X/Twitter, Perry wrote, “You have no idea what it means to me to have been given the grace and the blessing to be able to tell THIS story! Every detail is dedicated to the memory of the 855 black women and women of color of the Six Triple Eight. When America needed hope, they delivered! ”
“The Six Triple Eight” debuts in select theaters on Dec. 6 and begins streaming Dec. 20 on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
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