“Friends are the people who let you be yourself… and never let you forget it”….
…the movie act upon this motto. Four women – Savannah, Bernadine, Robin and Gloria, all in their early thirties – are longtime friends and all are in search of the perfect man. They face their biggest problem with wit and charme: MEN.
“Waiting To Exhale” marks the long awaited return of Whitney Houston to the big screen. The movie was particularly in the states a huge hit. The movie opened there at #1 at the box office with a total of $14,126,927 which was almost it’s entire budget and so did its soundtrack. The movie is notable for having an all-black cast. The success of the film proved that there is an audience for black movies. The LA Times called it a “social phenomenon”. By the end of it’s theatrical run the movie made over $67 million domestically with an additional 14.4 million internationally for a worldwide box office of $81,452,156.
Trailer
Background Infos / Trivia
Director Forest Whitaker was the unanimous first choice of the film’s producers and screenwriters.
Although Whitaker had earlier directed an HBO drama called Strapped (1993) (TV) – for which he received Best New Director honors at the Toronto Film Festival – this film was his first job directing a full-length feature film.
Forest Whitaker stated in an interview with Ebony Magazine that Robin Givens and Halle Berry were among the women who auditioned for the role of Robin. After casting Angela Bassett and Whitney Houston, he decided to go with relative unknowns for the other two roles, and the role of Robin was subsequently given to Lela Rochon.
Filming Locations for Waiting to Exhale:
Chandler, Arizona, USA
Fountain Hills, Arizona, USA
The Hermosa Inn, Paradise Valley, Arizona, USA
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Monument Valley, Utah, USA
