About the Production A Background in Music History Dressing the Part "This is a story about three things that fascinate nearly everybody: love, money and music," says director Gregory Nava. "And all of it is filtered through the recollections of three extremely different women, whose only common link is that they were seduced by the amazing charisma of Frankie Lymon." Says Paul Hall, "We were very lucky in our timing, because our project was very enticing to a number of A-list actresses. We had the luxury of casting the most talented and interesting women as Frankie Lymon's wives." Halle Berry, who has played such recent diverse roles as the broadly comedic lead of "B.A.P.S." and the intense, intelligent and seductive co-star of "Bulworth" opposite Warren Beatty, welcomed the opportunity to bring Zola Taylor, a glamorous singer with The Platters, to the screen. Says Berry, "Zola Taylor was a woman who made her way in a male-dominated, white-dominated world. She had talent, discipline and glamour, but she wasn't a machine -- she was very vulnerable, with a heart and soul." Berry studied old televised performances of The Platters to familiarize herself with the mannerisms and style that would set her character firmly in the early era of rock'n'roll. "It was a different time in the music world," she reflects. "Female performers were trying to look as glamorous as they could -- there was no such thing as 'grunge rock' in those days, especially not for women of color. Zola was proud of the impression she created; she was a role model for young women all over America." Vivica A. Fox, who plays a powerful, gritty role as Frankie Lymon's second wife, has also portrayed a broad spectrum of characters in the past few years. She had a vampish turn opposite Will Smith in "Independence Day," played a deadly serious thief in the critically praised thriller "Set It Off" and played a lovable mom in the critically acclaimed "Soul Food." In "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" she plays Elizabeth, a single mother and sometime shoplifter whose life is radically changed when she accidentally encounters Frankie Lymon. "Despite the fact that she's already been through hard times, Elizabeth is still pretty naïve when she meets Frankie," recounts Fox of her character. "When he brings her up onstage during one of his performances, she is in absolute heaven -- this is way beyond any fantasy she ever had for herself. She is willing to do anything to keep him in her life -- and soon that's exactly what she has to do -- anything and everything. Frankie really takes her innocence away from her...but years later she still feels something for him." Lela Rochon, who had a starring role in "Waiting to Exhale" as well as in the recent critical success "The Big Hit," plays Emira, a character who is the complete opposite of Elizabeth. "Emira is a complete surprise to Zola and Elizabeth," Rochon recounts with a laugh. "They have never even heard of her existence until they meet her in Morris Levy's office, years after Frankie's death. She is the complete opposite of anyone they would expect to have married the Frankie Lymon they both knew! "But at different times in his life, Frankie was different people, and when he met Emira, she was exactly the kind of woman he was looking for -- stable, wholesome and able to help him stabilize his life. If he'd known himself better, he'd have seen that it couldn't last. But to Emira, who never even realized what a big star Frankie had been, he was wonderful just as he was. She hoped it would last forever." Crucial to the story was the evolution of the relationship between Zola, Elizabeth and Emira. Says director Nava, "By the time we meet these women, Frankie has been gone for many years. They are the survivors, in every sense of the word -- this is their story. Through them we learn many things: their own hopes and dreams, the way their lives were changed by knowing Frankie; the strength and toughness that enabled them to salvage those lives and move on. They are interesting, complex people, and when they meet and begin to share their stories, what emerges is both funny and heartbreaking." Lela Rochon says, "Gregory is an actor's director, and he made the experience great. He makes you work in a way that was a pleasure for all of us, and I think he brought out the best in all of us." Many challenges faced the talented performers who star in "Why Do Fools Fall In Love." The three women would all have to age about 30 years during the course of the film. Comments Paul Hall, "All three of our female leads had to be willing to be seen in many different ways -- and not all of them are flattering. Halle, Vivica and Lela brought absolute truth to their portrayals." Continues Stephen Nemeth, "Zola's days as a singing star are over by the time we meet her; Elizabeth has just gotten out of jail. And Emira has a widow's lonely existence in her small Southern town. The best and worst of their lives is probably behind them by the time they meet in Morris Levy's office." Halle Berry agrees. "We all had to age about 25 years in these roles; they used makeup and prostheses to turn us into older women. But we had to really be careful to remember the subtleties of behavior from year to year, from the Fifties to the Sixties into the Eighties. What's it like to be 45? It's subtle -- not like going from 30 to 80. You have to find the little nuances of character to make someone age like that. "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" is about more than recollections, however. There is constant humor in the maneuvering that Zola, Elizabeth and Emira engage in to prove their claim to Frankie Lymon's legacy. Says Gregory Nava, "It's pretty entertaining to see each of these women sweep into Morris Levy's office to claim Frankie's royalties, only to discover that she's not the only Mrs. Frankie Lymon in the room. Our cast has marvelous comic timing, and it was put to good use in those scenes and in the scheming that followed." Fox laughs, "We got to go at each other in court and it was a lot of fun because we really like each other and respect each others' work. So sometimes one of us would get the other and we'd say 'that was a good one; you got me, girl.' And then we'd get it back a minute later. It was a friendly situation to have fun in and to work in." A Background in Music History Frankie Lymon was a real-life rags-to-riches musical success story in the 1950s. As lead singer of the pop singing group The Teenagers, Lymon had the ability to galvanize crowds with his sweet, expressive voice and remarkable stage presence. His most famous song, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, recorded on the Roulette Records label, was a nationwide hit that was later successfully covered by Diana Ross and remains a classic up-tempo lament. Lymon's story, however, has its somber side as well. The talented young performer sold the rights to his music to Morris Levy, Roulette's unscrupulous owner, in a deal that denied Lymon and his fellow Teenagers any significant proceeds from their records' successes. Although his charismatic charm drew the attentions of women everywhere, including three whom he married, Lymon slid out of fame and into drug abuse, dying young and leaving a tragically slim legacy of songs and performances. His brief life, however, attracted the attention of screenwriter Tina Andrews more than a decade after his death. Andrews, herself a young woman who had already enjoyed fame as a dancer, pianist and television and film actress, began researching Lymon's experiences for a screenplay she wanted to write. "Frankie Lymon was a ghetto success story, a poor African-American boy who rose to nationwide fame on the sheer strength of his talent, his love for performing, and his unique bond with his audience," she explains. "But on the other hand, Frankie was the story of a young man victimized by the unscrupulous record business, of a gifted musician destroyed by drugs, and of a man whose relationship with women was nothing like the charming fantasy he implied on-stage. I was interested in the way that his success brought about his failure." At about the time that Tina Andrews was obtaining the rights to Frankie Lymon's story, Harold Bronson, Managing Director of Rhino Records, was also looking into Lymon's life as a possible film topic. Rhino Records, which owns the rights to many libraries of music from the 1950s and '60s, including that of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, was considering the ways in which these rights might be creatively developed. Bronson recalls, "The story of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers seemed like a natural at first. Frankie, who had his first big hit as a thirteen-year-old with Why Do Fools Fall in Love, was the first big singing star younger teens could relate to. Think of the Jackson Five when Michael was in his early teens and you get the picture. "However, many people had tried to make this movie and none had succeeded in getting past the script stage, because the last part of Frankie's life was so sad and so unlike the first part." In the fall of 1981 Diana Ross hit the Top Ten with her version of Why Do Fools Fall in Love, which renewed people's interest in Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers -- especially the interest of Lymon's former wives. They began a court battle to determine what musical royalties were rightfully part of his estate, and who was now the legitimate heir to that estate. A few years later, Rhino Films' head of production, Stephen Nemeth, met with Tina Andrews, who had already scripted her version of Frankie Lymon's story, focusing on the singer's relationship with Zola Taylor, the beautiful female member of the singing group The Platters. In light of more recent developments, Andrews, Bronson and Nemeth agreed that the real story lay in Lymon's relationships with all three of his wives. Nemeth, Bronson and Andrews realized that the rights to Lymon's music, combined with the story of his life and incorporating the recent courtroom developments involving his legacy and survivors, was the group of elements they needed to get a motion picture underway, and they quickly began collaborating on the project. Andrews says, "I was becoming more and more interested in who Frankie had left behind: the three women who had married him, each believing that she was the sole love of his life. I wanted to explore what had drawn them to Frankie and how their lives had been changed by knowing him." Says Nemeth, "By adding Frankie's other two wives to the story, we had the interesting triple perspective -- these three women were survivors, and they had tales to tell. Then 'Waiting to Exhale' opened to very warm response, and we knew that a story seen through the eyes of the women who had loved Frankie would have legitimate appeal to an audience." Warner Bros. took a strong interest in the movie, especially since its Warner Sunset division was interested in developing stories that naturally linked music and drama. In the wake of his critically-praised work on "Selena," a film the studio had recently released, Gregory Nava was signed to direct "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," with Paul Hall (John Singleton's "Higher Learning") producing. As casting got underway, the filmmakers all agreed that Larenz Tate was the ideal choice to play Frankie Lymon. Tate, who began his own dramatic career singing and acting with his two brothers in a Los Angeles cultural program for youth after moving from Chicago, felt a strong connection to the figure he would portray. "Frankie really had nothing but his friends from the group and this huge talent," says Tate. "And when he got separated from those friends, Frankie lost his bearings in the world of show business. His talent wasn't enough to guide him, and he was very young to be in an adult world. "Frankie kept looking for someone who could make him feel the way he felt onstage -- powerful, confident, loved -- and when reality broke into each of his relationships he moved on to try again. But in the end, no woman could give him the thrill he got from performing." In addition to using his considerable acting talent to bring his character to life, Larenz Tate would have to re-create the dancing and performing mannerisms of Frankie Lymon, while matching his singing delivery to recordings made by Lymon and his group. "I watched tapes of him performing on television; fortunately, a few of them are still around. I could see how audiences fell in love with his charismatic personality and captivating energy. I really tried to bring that same energy to my own work." The final key to bringing the movie to life was the casting of Little Richard in a starring cameo as himself. The rock'n'roll icon added humor and a worldly perspective to the court's examination of the early days of the music business. As someone who had known Frankie Lymon well, Little Richard's insights were invaluable and his charmingly wicked commentary would prove a welcome resource to the other actors and the filmmakers throughout production. The legendary performer, whose real name is Richard Penniman, toured in the same rock'n'roll stage shows as Lymon during the 1950s and early '60s. "The promoters would get a dozen acts and each one would do a few of their recent hits and then make way for the next act," recounts Richard. "You always tried to do something extra, to bring the house down and stand out from the crowd. After a whole night of singers trying to do that, the roof was ready to come right off the building. But Frankie could handle the challenge and keep on raising the energy. He was always a favorite." The filmmakers worked with Larenz Tate to re-create the singer's stage show, with Lymon's actual recordings providing the vocals, in a series of concerts staged in Los Angeles. Explains Harold Bronson, "Frankie made magic on the stage. Without seeing his relationship with the audience, it would be hard to understand how he could persuade three different women to change their lives for him." Stephen Nemeth continues, "We used Frankie's recordings of his music, but Larenz had to learn the moves and the body language of that era to complete the effect. He was amazingly good at capturing Frankie's energy and style." The production brought hundreds of extras into the Orpheum, the State and the Los Angeles Theaters, all in Los Angeles and built far enough in the past to look like similar venues in New York. Groups like The Platters were re-cast to lip-sync to the original music of the era, but the excitement in the room was real. "The audience was thrilled to be part of this story and just to get a glimpse of our stars," recounts Mark Allen. And the enthusiasm of the crowd inspired Larenz Tate to blistering performances, complete with suit jackets tossed into the seats, onstage splits and unrestrained seductive behavior. "Portraying a rock star was new to me -- the effect of thousands of women screaming your name right in front of you was really cool," recalls Tate. "It's not like making a movie, where you're on a set with the crew and then later the director and editor put the pieces together. This was live and it was powerful; I could understand what drove Frankie and the other performers." Dressing the Part For the female stars of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," their costumes were important keys to illuminating the differences between their characters, as well as indicators of the passage of time. Costume designer ELISABETTA BERALDO created distinctive looks for Zola, Elizabeth and Emira, as well as for the stage performers and for Frankie Lymon himself. "I loved Zola's clothes when she was performing with The Platters," says Halle Berry. "When you put on those glamorous dresses, with the little tiny waists and the big bouffant skirts and the strapless tops, it just makes you stand and walk and move a certain way. And that's the way women really did look in the Fifties when we saw them on TV, singing or performing. Wearing those clothes was a big help to me in visually expressing my character." Vivica A. Fox, as Elizabeth Waters, had fewer opportunities to dress up in her role, but she, too, loved the look of the Fifties. "I didn't realize how glamorous and how fabulous they all were with the hairdos and the beautiful dresses. I felt like I was wearing a prom dress!" When her character re-appears in the Eighties, however, Elizabeth has just been released from prison and, in middle age, is not glamorous in the least. "There were some days that I looked at myself and Vivica was nowhere in there, you know," she recalls, laughing. "I went completely for the Eighties -- I had a Geri curl with blond tips! But we wanted it to be authentic; there's nothing worse than watching a movie and saying 'that's not right; I remember that.'" Lela Rochon, as a small-town Southern girl, never really had a glamorous era, but she was the only one of the three women to wear a wedding dress on-screen. "The other two -- Zola and Elizabeth -- laugh at me throughout the movie. Sometimes it really is funny, how little I know about life in the big city. But in the end, I had the white wedding dress and the memory of Frankie as a sweet, loving and kind person. No matter how much I miss him, it's still easier for me to bear, because I'm the one who knew his tender side only." Costumes for The Platters, The Teenagers, Little Richard and the other singing groups were drawn from photographs and television footage, and accurately re-create the look of the period. Additional footage re-creating Sixties groups such as The Kinks appears in the film, and scenes from an "American Bandstand"-style variety show are reconstructed from an actual broadcast of a similar program. About the cast...