Sometimes the signs of a breakup are so obvious, it’s painful: there’s the unmade bed, the half-eaten cartons of Chinese takeout, the brooding Coldplay song on repeat. It’s this last clue in particular that raised Joy Bryant’s eyebrows when she walked in on a friend who’s relationship was on the rocks. “I like Coldplay,” she says, “but I was like, dude, come on. This is like a bad movie—get up!”
The actress goes through all of dating’s trials and tribulations in About Last Night (out Valentine’s Day), Screen Gem’s remake of the Brat Pack semi-classic About Last Night… originally based on David Mamet’s 1974 play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” She plays Debbie, who starts seeing Michael Ealy’s Danny after friends (Kevin Hart and Regina Hall) set them up. The cast was already on board when the president of Screen Gems offered Bryant the role, and accepting it was a no-brainer. “When he told me it would be a remake of About Last Night…, I mean, I pretty much read the script as a formality.”
Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant in About Last Night
On set, Bryant and Ealy instantly bonded over music. “When we were in hair and makeup, there was always a great mix going on,” she recalls. “Mike has really great taste in music, so he kept the jams coming.”
Bryant shared with DuJour her own playlist that follows the theme of About Last Night—23 songs representing all the stages a relationship goes through. So if by any chance you’re in need of what’s perhaps the perfect Valentine’s Day soundtrack—”I was trying to get it down to 14, but that would have been really hard”—tune in below:
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