Hollywood vets Robert Townsend and Leon Robinson dropped some throwback tea on us about the making of The Five Heartbeats that blew our mind. The living legends tell us what it was like revisiting the film for their new UMC documentary “Making of the Five Heartbeats” and tons more - like how Leon bagged model-turned-reality star Cynthia Bailey - inside...
Did somebody say legends?! Because we're talked to two of everybody's faves - Robert Townsend& Leon Robinson for this episode!
While the fellas promote the "Making of the Five Heartbeats" documentary on UMC, they stopped by The YBF Podcast for what was technically Natasha's first recording in quarantine. After a few frozen moments, they got to everything you've ever wanted to know about the cult classic.
It’s the era of reboots, but that wasn’t the driving force behind Robert and Leon collaborating on a “behind-the-scenes” documentary about the iconic musical.
“No. I had been thinking about doing a documentary for years, but I just didn’t know how to do it,” Robert shared with Natasha during The YBF Podcast. “And then stuff happens when it happens. Then, it was like ‘Oh, this is how I can tell the story because I didn’t want it to be like a regular documentary. It’s like a movie onto itself,” he said.
”Making of the Five Heartbeats” isn’t exactly a reboot. It's a documentary that gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at how they created the film and all the work (and crazy moments) that went into getting it to the big screen. Robert said the idea of the documentary was no-brainer because fans of the film are always asking him questions about how he made The Five Heartbeats.
“The biggest question is always, ‘When are y’all going to do a Part 2?,’” Leon said.
We’re not sure about you all, but we were “today years old” when Leon schooled us on whether the group was real or not!
“The real funny question is – and I know Robert got this too – and we see a lot of it now that we’re doing press for the documentary is how many people thought the Five Heartbeats was a group,” Leon said.
Mind blown.
The dynamic duo also answered several burning questions about the film that we HAD to know: Was it real wiggery or real hair they were rocking on screen? Why Whitney didn't work out for a role she auditioned for and what she told Robert once she saw the movie. Which co-star did the most while in character and forgot their heart throb status was JUST a character? Who got caught getting it popping in real life in the trailers? How did Robert become so prolific in the industry? What we don't know about the most underrated writer in Hollywood.
Robert Townsend may be divorced, but he's definitely got him a secret bae even his good friend Leon didn't know about. We got the tea on their quarantine visits, how Leon is handling being far away from his baby girl Noelle, what he's telling her about the business now t hat she wants to be an actress, why he refuses to do TikTok with her, and Leon dishes on how he pulled ex-wife turned bomb co-parent Cynthia Bailey.
Speaking of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Cynthia Bailey, she actually auditioned to star in The Five Heartbeats:
Oh, so that’s how Cynthia and Leon met…on the set? Nope. Leon shared exactly how he and Cynthia met where he pretty much manifested their future.
“My meeting with Cynthia [Bailey] was very strange to be honest with you,” Leon spilled. “I went to a fashion show for BET and I went with the CEO and owner of BET at the time, Bob Johnson. Cynthia was there with some friends, but she wasn’t in the show because she was a really big model at that time. She was too big to be in that show, she was going there to support.
”I saw her from a distance and I said to my friend, ‘I know this is going to sound crazy, but you see that girl over there? She looks like the mother of my child.’
"He said ‘You don’t have no God damn children.’ I said, ‘I know that’s why what I said sounds so crazy.’ I know it’s crazy. The funny thing is, she wouldn’t even look at me when I was talking to her. But then I got the call from her friend and she brokered the deal.”
And the rest is history.
Get into the real deal with some real legends. And how we found out Robert is a low key huge fan of Tory Lanez's raunchy quarantine radio AND demon time. Chile...Come get Uncle Robert!
Get into it below:
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"Making of the Five Heartbeats" is currently streaming on UMC or you can rent/buy it on YouTube.