Actress Regina Hall doesn’t remember celebrating Black History Month during her undergraduate years.
When she spoke at the Black Student Union’s keynote address on Friday, Feb. 23, Hall said she was taken aback.
“I’m looking at this, looking at your [Black] Student Union and seeing how powerful that is and it’s like, it’s glorious to be able to be united and have this kind of passion,” she said.
Hall spoke to hundreds of students at Friday’s event about her time in school, her path to stardom and her role in the entertainment industry.
Her most recent film, “Girls Trip,” is about four college friends reconnecting. Hall told audience members that the goal of this film, which was chosen by Time as one of the top 10 films of 2017, was to depict all aspects of black female identity.
“We wanted to show black women in all of their glorious forms where we are intelligent and smart and supportive and love each other and loud and ratchet and sexual — all the things that are a part of being human,” Hall said. “We’re in the age of reality television where there [are shows] like ‘Love & Hip Hop’ and ‘Real Housewives’ and there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not a complete depiction of who we are as women and how we are as friends.”
During the audience Q-and-A segment of the address, Kai Moon, a sophomore majoring in business administration, asked Hall if there would be a third installment to “The Best Man” films, to follow up the 1999 original and its 2013 holiday-themed sequel. Hall confirmed there will be one.
“Everyone in the movie pretty much has been working and we haven’t had the time where we could get [everyone],” Hall said. “And we can’t do it without every person. So it’s a matter of time to figure out maybe in the next year when we can shoot it.”
According to Moon, who said she has loved “The Best Man” since she was little, even before her parents allowed her to watch the entire R-rated movie, she was thrilled to speak to Hall.
“I’ve loved so many of the movies she’s been in and I’m like, ‘I have to ask her now because I’m probably never gonna see her again,’” Moon said. “Just to hear her talk. [And to see] her humor come out a bit and just to be able to engage with her for a short time was a lot of fun.”
Dasia Jones, a junior majoring in accounting, said she left the event feeling inspired.
“The number-one thing I’m going to take away from the event is not letting the culture of whatever field you’re going into determine you,” Jones said. “So as a business major, I know it’s dominated by white men, but I’m not going to let that deter me from what I want to do. You just turn a blind eye to the opposition and just keep going.”