The“ Best Man” Cast Is 'Beyond Friends,' Says Sanaa Lathan: 'A Feeling of Family' (Exclusive)
Sanaa Lathan still remains close with 'Best Man' costars Nia Long, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall and more
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(Left-right:) Melissa De Sousa, Sanaa Lathan, Taye Diggs and Nia Long at a 'The Best Man Holiday' screening in 2013Sanaa Lathan tends to bond with her costars. But with the cast of The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday, her friendships are on another level.
“We've all known each other so long,” says the actress, 52, of her costars in the 1999 hit and its 2013 sequel: Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Harold Perrineau, Monica Calhoun, Melissa De Sousa and Regina Hall.
“I talked to Nia yesterday. I talk to Regina all the time. Taye and I just DM'ed each other,” Lathan tells PEOPLE. “We don't hang out all the time, but there is, when we do see each other, a feeling of family. It definitely feels like beyond friends.”
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Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan in 'The Best Man'Lathan starred as Robyn, love interest to Diggs’ Harper. Playing a group of friends reuniting and navigating long-held secrets and shifting relationship dynamics, the cast has “been through so much,” says Lathan — including the unexpected news of a sequel over a decade after the original.
“Who knew?” she says. “That's a franchise where we were like, ‘Wow, we're really doing this again?’ "
The Best Man Holiday also reunited the cast with writer-director Malcolm D. Lee. Lathan recalls having “so much fun” on the sequel’s set, it may have been hard to stay on track. “I feel for Malcolm because we grew up with him as well. So we're like, ‘Why do you want us to do that? Explain to me!’ We give him a hard time.”
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Regina Hall and Sanaa Lathan in 'The Best Man Holiday'Related: Sanaa Lathan Says Love & Basketball Has ‘Crossed All Racial and Cultural Lines’ (Exclusive)
To hear Lathan tell it, bonding with onscreen costars off-screen is a common practice for her. With cast members Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Uzo Aduba and more on the set of new movie The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, “it felt like you're going to work with family,” she says.
“Russell Hornsby I've known for years, Mekhi [Phifer] I've known for years,” she adds of her other costars. “We just had a lot of fun in the makeup trailer... I think there's even some stuff on social media of Russell at 7 in the morning blasting music and just dancing his ass off. It's like a club up in the makeup trailer!”
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, from writer-director Tina Mabry and co-writer Cee Marcellus, is based on the novel of the same name by Edward Kelsey Moore. It is streaming now on Hulu.
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