Tyler Perry is known for casting some of Black Hollywood’s most attractive undiscovered talent, but his latest film, “All the Queen’s Men,” pushes this trend even farther. By design, “All the Queen’s Men,” written by Christian Keyes and starring Eva Marcille, is a visual pleasure, but the storyline ups the ante, producing a different form of fantasy for Perry’s primarily female audience. The comedy, set in Atlanta, turns stripper culture on its head, with male dancers providing the visual candy and answerable to a ball-busting madam played by Marcille. The juxtaposition of balling female patrons letting it rain on male dancers is an allusion to the contemporary female leadership movement, as Keyes so brilliantly points out. Keith Swift, an actor and dancer, is at ease in front of Perry’s audience and sees the opportunity to join the cast of the provocative play as a godsend that arrived at the right time.
Swift spoke with Rolling Out about the popular new scripted series, which has ladies all over the country grasping more than their pearls.
Is it true that the majority of the dancers on the show are professional entertainers in real life?
Myself, Bolo and Masterpiece who plays Midnight on the show all come from the world of male exotic dancing. I started dancing back home in Detroit. My original name was Fatal Attraction but on the show my name is Babyface.
