It was a hit 2005 movie starring Ice Cube and Nia Long, but now Are We There Yet? has been turned into a TBS sitcom, with Cube producing and ex-football player Terry Crews and sitcom vet Essence Atkins in the leads. In the movie, Cube was involved in a romance with Long, who had two kids; the show takes place months after the movie left off, with the couple now married and trying to get comfortable with the new family situation. For Crews, the family thing is nothing new, having been married for 20 years and having five kids on his own.
“I bring a little of my real life into the show,” says Crews, 42, a Flint, Michigan native, who played a few years in the NFL and has been featured on the BET reality show Family Crews with his own brood and as young Chris Rock’s father in Everybody Loves Chris.
Crews has been a busy actor ever since getting bit parts in such efforts as The 6th Day and Training Day. He met his producer (and an occasional guest star in the series) Cube while working on Friday After Next, and has remained friendly with him ever since.
“I just wrapped Everybody Loves Chris and I got a call from Cubevision (Ice Cube’s production company) says Crews, who has also made an impression in the Wayans Brothers’ White Chicks, Balls of Fury and Get Smart. “I really wanted another job, but it took an entire year to do this. We had to work on the characters, but I was lucky because the showrunner on Everybody Loves Chris (Ali Leroi) was involved in Are We There Yet?, and he knew me.”
In many ways, making the transition the gridiron to the soundstage was natural for Crews. He claims to have a game plan and bring a football mentality to acting. He worries, however, that his lack of formal training will eventually hurt his career.
“I really don’t know what I’m doing,” jokes Crews. “Bright lights hurt my eyes. They’re going to find out I am a farce. Luckily I’ve worked with the best people. I look at it as the actors are the players and the directors are the coaches.”
On the other hand, Atkins, 40, has been acting since she was a teenager, beginning with appearances in The Cosby Show when she was a teen, and later getting lead roles in the shows Malibu Shores, Under One Roof, Smart Guys and Half & Half.
“Cosby gave me a start,” says the New York City-born Atkins. “I saw a notice on a bulletin board. I hadn’t done any anything professionally. They set up an appointment where I met (producer) Barry Moss, owner of a casting agency. He sat there and taught me on the fly, and I auditioned and went to Queens with 10 other girls and he interviewed us and I was among the people chosen to be on the show.
“Sometimes, I have to pinch myself because of all the good luck. I worked with Bill Cosby and with James Earl Jones (on Under One Roof). I learned about his history and stuttering problem and how he used acting to overcome that. To watch him master that was an experience. Also in the cast were Joe Morton, Merlin Santana, Leslie Uggams. We had an awesome experience.”
While Atkins doesn’t have the child-rearing experience or years of marriage that Crews has under his belt, she does have a marriage experience that is unusual: She met her husband, college football star Jamie Mendez, through the online dating service match.com.
“For match.com I wrote a great profile, but nobody responded,” she recalls. “I saw my husband’s profile. I went to reach out to him a couple weeks later. He went back to his ex, but they split up. He was just hanging out, but his parents said, ‘Why are you sitting around?’ We met February 21, 2008. I was working on Dance Flick! 11 days before I got married!”
If all goes well with ratings as its initial episodes are broadcast, Are We There Yet? will go the Tyler Perry’s House of Payne route and shoot 90 episodes in one cluster.
“I’ve done 10 episodes so far,” says Crews. “Only time will tell if I’ll meet death by sitcom.”
While early word is strong on Are We There Yet?, if the show doesn’t click, it’s likely that its two stars will remain quite busy. In fact, Crews has a big film coming out this summer, appearing as weapons specialist Hale Caesar in the Sylvester Stallone-directed all-star actioner The Expendables, alongside Stallone, Jason Statham, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture. “Stallone is the only guy to put together a movie like this,” says Crews. “It’s a love letter to fans of any action movie. He’s the only one who could have done it. I’m one of the main five characters, with Jet, Randy, Dolph and Jason.”
“We’re a ragtag bunch. Stallone is a master of story. That’s why he can get away with Rocky 17. The story is so strong, he can go forever. We want to overthrow the dictator of a small island country. We use therapy through guns.”