Vivica A. Fox has established herself as a successful actor, producer and television host in her nearly 40 years working in the entertainment industry. But now the 59-year-old can add director to her resume as she made her directorial debut in the new BET+ film First Lady of BMF: Tonesa Welch Story. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Fox who revealed that her first film as a director was “challenging.”
“Shot the film in 14 days,” Fox told PopCulture. The beautiful thing is that I’m an actor, to start. That is my depth. So I get getting your scenes, keeping everyone on track. I just had no idea that I would answer so many questions from the second I got there. Somebody was like, ‘Here’s your breakfast, and so can we talk?’ And it was just always something.
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“So I’ve never answered so many questions in my life, but being the head chick in charge, it was wonderfully challenged and I’m so grateful to Tressa for knowing that I could deliver. Her and I did a short together and she said, “‘I love your work ethic. I want to work with you again.’ You know, people talk. But she came back very quickly with a wonderful project.”
First Lady of BMF: Tonesa Welch Story is about Tonesa Welch,ย a “middle-class woman raised in 1980s Detroit who becomes seduced by the limelight and adventure of the drug game. Tonesa meets H, an older, sophisticated head of a drug organization who gives her a taste of the good life. But when H gets locked up, Tonesa forges a new path with a young, trusted confidante. Together, they build a notorious drug empire that puts Tonesa on a path of crime, drugs, infidelity, deception, and redemption,” the synopsis states.ย
Fox makes an appearance in the film, which also stars Tobias Truvillion, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore, Kellie Williams, Leon, Tristin Fazekas, Faith Malonte and Daphnique Springs and Michelle Mitchenor, who plays the title character. When talking about casting Mitchenor for the role, Fox said she picked her because of the energy she brings.ย
“It was just something about her je ne sais quoi, that then when I watched interviews and did my homework on Tonesa, that she reminded me of her, Fox said. “I went back and I looked at some footage of Michelle acting on other shows and I said, ‘This girl can bring it.’ Because they sent me other choices, you know? And this was one of the one times I fought for her. I did.”
First Lady of BMF: Tonesa Welch Story is streaming on BET+ now.ย
