Sheryl Lee Ralph discusses her new role as a weed-growing granny
Midler and Ralph star in 'Fabulous Four,' a film about life-long friendship, that releases on July 26.
Thursday morning, fresh off her third consecutive best supporting actress Emmy nomination, Sheryl Lee Ralph chatted it up with CBS Mornings anchors. She talked about Fabulous Four, the new film in which she plays Kitty, a grandmother and botanist who, in Ralph’s words, “grows a lot of weed.”
Fabulous Four opens in theaters July 26, and also stars Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally as lifelong friends who join Kitty on a trip to Key West to be bridesmaids for their friend’s (Bette Midler) surprise wedding. The comedy celebrates women’s decades-long friendships and love, in an older, but equally mischievous, Girls Trip vibe.
Best part of filming the movie?
“The Bette Midler of it all,” Ralph told the morning news anchors. “When you think of the consummate professional, this woman knows and owns who she is. I was learning something from her every day.”
Midler, let’s remember, wants to play the mother of Lisa Ann Walter’s character on Abbott Elementary — no word from Ralph on whether that was discussed on the film set.
The movie wasn’t easy to get through Ralph said, as it was filmed during the writers’ strike.
“It was very difficult,” Ralph said. “We were working with scripts that needed some working and reworking and we had to be very careful about what we were doing.”
Ralph’s son, Etienne, married ABC News journalist Stephanie Wash in Jamaica during the July 4 weekend, a few days after Hurricane Beryl hit the coast.
“I adore my daughter-in-law. I cherish her,” Ralph said. “I appreciate her.”
Ralph is working with Abbott costar Lisa Ann Walter to produce a comedy special that will be filmed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Center City’s Helium Comedy Club. Ralph is coproducing and codirecting the project.
“We fell in love as work wives one day because we had so much in common,” Walter told The Inquirer about Ralph. “We were single moms raising our kids in Los Angeles. All the ways we connected were so pure and we loved hanging out.”
Sounds like a Fabulous Four kind of friendship to me.