David Mann's loud, rambunctious, word-twisting character Leroy Brown practically stole the film "Meet the Browns" from lead Angela Bassett.
Now transferred to the small screen by TBS and creator Tyler Perry, Mann's Leroy Brown gets to anchor the TV version of "Meet the Browns," his three-sizes-too-small clothing and ashy knees still intact.
In the TV series, which premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m., after Brown's father dies he inherits the home. He misreads a letter the father leaves behind and presumes he has to use it as an old folks' home. This opens the door for more wacky characters, including a former actress, a colonel and a sex-crazed elderly woman.
But Mann said there are some younger characters on the show as well, including Leroy's cousins and a nephew. Plus, he adopts two younger kids. (Bassett is not part of the TV show.)
Mann, a Dallas resident, said the character will be very much like he was in the film: "He's very confident. He wants everyone around him to be happy." Mann is only 42 years old but plays a character a couple of decades his senior via makeup and graying of his eyebrows and beard.
For longtime Perry fans, the Browns are a staple. They were key in Perry's early stage plays. Then came the 2008 film ($42 million in theater grosses), followed quickly by the TV show.
Mann said he actually had to dial down his character from the stage, where "I have to make the people in the balcony laugh. It was a bit difficult at first."
And in an odd twist, his wife of 20 years, Tamela J. Mann, plays his daughter Cora on the show. David Mann said this was a spontaneous plot choice made by Perry himself many years ago. Cora is the product of Leroy and Perry's infamous Madea having a one-night stand.
The couple note that when they are in character, David Mann has to restrain himself. "I tell him, 'You're my father now. Don't touch me!' " Tamela Mann said. "The problem is he has a habit of patting me on the butt!"
Leroy's portly figure helps him sell the humor of his character. But Mann said he lost 40 pounds between the movie and the TV series, which has shot 10 episodes so far. The bosses told him not to lose any more.
"Most actors get punished for gaining weight," he mused. "Now they're giving me slack for losing weight!"
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