Actress Kimberly Elise has had the privilege of playing quite a few true life characters in her career.
In Apple Mortgage Cake, which premieres on Easter Sunday on the UP network, she plays a woman who is not only real but was present throughout the filming of the movie.
Elise plays Angela Logan, a single, working mother in Teaneck, NJ with 3 teenage boys and a house that is not only falling apart, but is also about to be foreclosed. Angela has 10 days to come up with $4,000 for her mortgage – and at the behest of friends, she decides to bake her way out of this very relatable dilemma.
Logan was present throughout the filming of the movie, watching her story play out right in front of her. While many actresses would feel a great deal of pressure under those circumstances, Elise embraced it.
The experience was powerful for both Elise and Logan because, “Angela would be behind the monitor, and she’d watch some of the scenes that I was doing, and she’d just burst into tears.” As Logan relived those difficult times through the scenes, Elise said, “It’s just a testament to how painful it was, how difficult it was, but through that she got through it; she pulled herself together.”
For Elise, playing real-life characters is a responsibility she takes seriously. In the case of Angela Logan, she says, “Angela is alive and she’s still cooking, and she’s still doing what we did in the story. Having the opportunity just to spend time with her and to see the person she is on the inside really helped me to capture that in the film.”
When considering scripts, she says, “I wouldn’t do it if the person or the family didn’t agree with the material. I really try to honor people that way.” In the case of Angela Logan, she has succeeded. “She’s pleased, and her fiance’s pleased, and that’s all I need,” she says.
One of the elements of the story that touched Elise is that it is an all-too-common story in today’s economy. She said, “I love that we’re seeing a story that’s just a human story, and it just so happens to be portrayed by black people, because that’s who Angela is.” She finds the story completely relatable because so many have gone through the same ups and downs.
Elise also portrays universal themes in her VH1 series Hit the Floor. She notes that the show has an extremely diverse cast, and that showrunner James LaRosa has built a story that is not oriented toward race issues, but toward human ones.
“There are people like James who just see the world that way, just as people. More and more of them are coming into power positions — especially the younger players. They are coming up in a more diverse world and want to see a world on TV that represents the world they grew up with," she observed.
"As these executives are coming in," Elise said, "they are more colorblind than what has been.”
“Things are changing on television," she continued. "I like to look at the cup as half-full, and so I say it’s getting better and continuing to get better every day.”
