Paris Phillips maintains she’s a character on “Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood,” and she’s readying to play an entirely new one in her acting debut.
The reality star is set to become a bona fide actress as she stars in the upcoming BET TV movie “Fall Girls.” The flick, which Phillips told Atlanta Black Star on Monday, Jan. 7, took just one month to film, depicts a woman named Paige, who just got a promotion at her job. In celebration, her boss invites her and her best friend/co-worker out on a weekend getaway. But when things get crazy after a night out with their manager, the women wake up the next day to discover it appears as if they killed their boss. Paige and Tyra are then forced to try to figure out who did it without taking the blame for it all.
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Phillips’ role in the movie is Keke, who is the sister-in-law to Paige. Phillips describes her character as “crazy” but “a sweetheart.” She added Keke is “33 but thinks she’s 15, 16.” The role sees Phillips starring opposite “Love and Hip Hop: Miami” star Amara La Negra as Paige and Erica Hubbard as Tyra, along with “Basketball Wives” star Tami Roman in a villainous role.
Phillips has been dabbling in acting for a while, and when she got the chance to audition for the movie she did so. Phillips wound up going before casting director and landing the role all in a matter of two weeks. The star acted fast and pushed past her fear of rejection to go for the gig.
This role is certainly different than going on reality TV. The star isn’t aware of what she’s walking into on “LHHH,” versus knowing what scene she’ll be shooting for “Fall Girls” each day.
“I don’t know if I’m walking into a friend of mine, an enemy, like, you don’t know,” Phillips explained. “But when you go on a movie set, you know your character, you know it’s not gonna be drama, you know for sure. So that’s the difference.”
Still, the gigs may not be all that different. Phillips said she’s funny in both realms.
“On ‘Love and Hip Hop’ you can see that I’m kind of a character. All my life, I’ve always been the class clown,” she said. “I’ve always been the fun person to be around. I’m that friend that cracks jokes. … I don’t take things serious. Anybody that watches [“LHHH”] knows Paris is crazy, Paris is funny. But I’m not stand-up [comedy] funny. … That’s not my thing.”
What is becoming her thing is acting, and she said that while filming “LHHH” and “Fall Girls” simultaneously she had lots of support from her cast mates.
“No one really hates me on the show,” she said. “People, they were happy for me. …This is my moment, I worked hard for it, and they been seeing me grind in L.A.; they know where I come from. To be a former assistant to now, shooting movies, you have no choice but to respect that.”
Reflecting on what fans will take away from the movie, which Phillips described as “Weekend at Bernie’s” meets “Girls Trip,” the star said it’s all about the “value of friendship and sisterhood.”
That idea may even speak to her experience on “LHHH” and her relationship with K. Michelle. The former close friends’ relationship was severed when accusations flew last season that Phillips stole money from her when she took pricey Uber trips using the singer’s credit card. While the two have tried to mend fences over the course of the season, the attempts were all in vain.
As for whether Phillips will return to the show for season 6, the star wasn’t exactly sure.
“I need to be on it, I should be on it,” she told ABS.
“Fall Girls” premieres Saturday, Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. EST on BET and BET Her.
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