‘Beauty in Black’ Star Ricco Ross Calls Tyler Perry 'The Definition of a Genius,' Compares Him to James Cameron (Exclusive)

During his impressive Hollywood career, Ricco Ross has worked with some of the industry's biggest filmmakers, including James Cameron, who directed him in the iconic movie Aliens. In an exclusive interview about Beauty in Black, he opened up about the Netflix show's creator, Tyler Perry, and why he places him in the same league as Cameron. “He is the true definition of a genius,” Ross told Men’s Journal.

Ricco Ross Teases What Fans Can Expect in Upcoming Beauty in Black Episodes

Men’s Journal: What can viewers expect from Beauty in Black when it returns?

Ricco Ross: The show is a bit of a hot mess. So, I would say the short answer would be that the fans can expect the unexpected.

Men’s Journal: Is there anything that you want to tease us with that would get people salivating to see more?

Ricco Ross: Things have been a bit of a rollercoaster on the show, but it's starting to come to a head. I also think the women in the show are really kind of reaching their strides in the next eight episodes that drop. I think they're really going to show their talent.

I don't know if the audience realizes it—most may not—but this show is shot probably a fifth of the time that a normal one-hour drama takes to film. So, it's a very rapid pace, and for these women to be pulling off the performances that they do at this pace, I think it's really remarkable.

Men’s Journal: How do you feel about that pace? For someone who has been in the business for so long, how does that filming pace change how you approach your Beauty in Black role?

Ricco Ross: Oh man. On most sets during the first day of filming, you may get six or seven pages that you're going to shoot that day. The very first day is usually a short day, because the crew hasn't really found their stride yet. For the first day on Beauty in Black, we had 81 pages.

Men’s Journal: Wow.

Ricco Ross: I mean, they came to me with a stack of papers, and I thought they were just bringing me a script, a new script or something, and it was like, “No, this is the shooting schedule for today.” And I have got to tell you, I've been in this business for 43 years, but I got shook a little bit and thinking that we were going to shoot 81 pages.

I had to talk myself down. I said, “Listen, everybody in this cast has to shoot those same 81 pages. And with my experience.” I thought, “If anybody can do it, you should be able to do it. So, let's tackle this the way one would tackle a thousand-mile walk, one step at a time.” I just looked at my first scene, and I said, “Let me knock this scene out, let me kill this scene, and then I'll focus on the next scene, and so forth.” And that's how I got through the day. And by the end of the day, I thought, “Yeah, I got you now, Mr. Tyler Perry, I got you.”

What Working With Tyler Perry on ‘Beauty in Black’ Is Really Like

Men’s Journal: What's it like working with Tyler Perry?

Ricco Ross: It's very easy for me because he's an actor himself. For the veterans on the show, he doesn't give us a lot of direction. I think he casts well, and he relies on us to bring these characters to life. If he has an idea, he'll throw it at us. If he has lines, new lines, he'll throw them at you. We often only do one take, which are very long takes, so you want to get it right the first time.

If he gets inspired, he'll throw things at you. Your job as an actor is to catch it, digest it, and then regurgitate it in your character's voice. So it's really nice. I guess the biggest surprise for me was that the man is successful for a reason. It wasn't an accident. He is, I think, the true definition of a genius. And that's why he's so successful. That's why his shows are so successful. And I think that's why Beauty in Black is so successful.

He has directed each and every episode of this show. I've heard that on a lot of his shows, he has only directed the first season, and then he would pass it on to another director and move on to something. But this, I think, has been his baby, and he's directed every episode.

Men’s Journal: I specifically want to ask you about the actual voice of your character. I find the way that you deliver your lines in the show to be so compelling. You have so much gravitas that you bring to every scene that you're in. Do you put a lot of thought into how you deliver those lines in such a magnetic way?

Ricco Ross: Thank you for that. This character was not very close to me. It was a stretch. This was one of those roles where I had to create a character. People think that I am the character and they’re surprised when they meet me. I remember one of the descriptions of the character said that he is elderly and sickly. I told them, I said, “Listen, when you meet me, I don't present myself that way.” They said, “Well, don't worry. Tyler handpicked you, and we'll make it fit.” When I got on set, I remember thinking that I have to make this authentic and questioning, “How can I make it authentic?”

I studied at UCLA. In the United States, we often work from the inside out. We find the emotions, and then we work from the inside out. But I also am a classically trained Shakespearean actor. In England, where I studied, they often work from the outside in, meaning if they're working on a classical piece, they may have the right outfit, the costume that makes them feel like they're in that period. So I did a combination of both of those things. I worked on a pair of shoes that I felt gave me the right gait that I wanted to have and the clothes helped me feel like an elderly man.

Tyler suggested that I try a cigar. I don't smoke, so that was a stretch for me. But I tried the cigar, and I noticed that my voice changed a bit. And I don't know if you smoke cigars, but there's a calming effect that happens when you smoke cigars. And that happened. Then Tyler suggested that I try a cane. And once I got the cane, after about a minute or two, I thought, “I got you now, Horace. I got you.”

Men’s Journal: You were talking about your character being an elderly man. Yet, he has so much authority on screen. I was wondering if there's any chance that we're going to see a version of this character that doesn't have the physical ailments that are affecting him throughout the show, even if it's just in a flashback. When I'm watching Beauty in Black, he's such a charismatic character that I want to see him at his full powers, if you know what I mean.

Ricco Ross: No one's ever asked me that. That's a really good question. Wow. Horace goes away to Italy to get stem cells for his illness. And I think in the next eight episodes, we're going to find out how it works. I don't want to give anything away, but I know that he is working on trying to get himself healthy.

He had given up during the course of the season. He had given up and accepted the fact of his fate, but he has found new life. And now he's fighting to try and come back. The interesting thing about this character is that he has so many layers, and that's why I enjoy playing him so much.

When you first meet him, you think that he is an elderly man who is living on a fixed income, and you later find out that he's worth hundreds of millions of dollars. When you first meet him, you think that he is a weak person, somebody that you can possibly run over. And later on, you realize that this man is not that guy at all, and he is the last person that you're going to run over. When you first meet him, you think that he is extremely homophobic. And later on, you find out that he is rather sexually curious himself. And when you first meet him, you think that he is the villain of the show. And sometimes, he is the hero of the show. So there's a lot of layers, and it's a very complex character.

I based his disposition when I portray Horace on my father. My father was a big man physically as well as in the community. I'm from Chicago. My father did a lot of different jobs. One of the jobs he did was he was being a number runner. He was a loan shark. He was a factory worker. He was a taxi driver. He was all these things. But I never remember my father raising his voice in anger. As a matter of fact, when people would raise their voice, he would lower his voice and wait for people to listen to him, to settle. So, that's the foundation of Horace, my father, because he's like James Bond. He doesn't get shaken.

Men’s Journal: That sounds like the perfect inspiration for this character because one of the things that is so compelling about him is that he doesn't have to do any of those things. Any room he's in, everybody has eyes on him, right?

Ricco Ross: Thank you, but I want to give a shout-out to my castmates. When you're playing a character of high stature, it's often not what you do. It's how people react to you. So, when I walk in the room, I get everybody's attention. Horace has this aura of authority. And it's not because I'm doing anything special or shouting or anything or tooting my own horn. It's because of the reaction that my fellow cast members have towards me.

Even with a cane and being an elderly man, there is a certain fear in a number of the other characters' eyes once I'm in the room. No matter how powerful they are in the show, when I enter the room, you see that things change. The dynamics change. So, shout-out to my castmates for helping me deliver as such.

Men’s Journal: Speaking of your castmates, I just have to ask you a blunt question, is this the most attractive cast you've ever worked with? Because, my lord, this is a gorgeous cast.

Ricco Ross: I've got to tell you, I don't even want to answer that, but the honest truth is yes. Yes, man. That's another reason why I want to give kudos to this cast because a lot of attractive people in Hollywood ride on their looks for a long time. You can play the cute person and all that for the rest of your career.

But, for these people to be playing these dramatic roles and delivering performances like they're doing, it shows that they've taken the craft seriously. They haven't taken the easy route. They haven't just relied on their looks. They have become students of the art, and it shows in the show. This show was the very first one with a black cast to become not only number one in the United States, but also Netflix's global number one show. So, kudos to the cast.

Men’s Journal: How much pride did you take when you saw how wildly successful the show has been?

Ricco Ross: I've been on successful shows, and I've been on shows that haven't been successful. You can tell the difference the moment you walk on set. When you're working on a successful show. People are happy, and there are smiles on everybody's face, and people are bringing their A-game. I was very proud. When a show has Tyler Perry's name on it, often we don't get the critical acclaim that we deserve because he has done so many comedies. This show is a drama, though. It's very different.

I told Tyler, “This show is award-worthy.” And he said he doesn't chase awards. He looks for the rewards. And the reward is the reaction from the fans to the show. So he said, “Listen, this show may come out, and it may not do well in the States. It may do well, it may not. But this is Netflix, and this is global. So, when it comes out, look at what other countries think about the show.”

I remember the very first time we had finished shooting, I took a vacation to Colombia. And the very first day that I walked out in the streets in Colombia, three policewomen approached me, and I thought they were going to ask me for my passport, which I had left in the hotel. And the first thing they asked me for was a selfie because of Beauty in Black. That was when I realized, “Yes, this is global. This isn't just the United States. This is global, and people are attracted to it from all over the planet.”

Why Ricco Ross Compared Tyler Perry to James Cameron

Men’s Journal: Years before you began starring in Beauty in Black, you had a memorable role in James Cameron’s Aliens. As someone who has worked with two wildly successful Hollywood figures, I wanted to know how you would compare working with Tyler Perry and James Cameron all those years ago. How similar or dissimilar were those experiences for you?

Ricco Ross: Wow, wow. Again, very, very good question. I have never had that question asked before. The interesting thing about that question is, I believe that, out of all the directors that I've ever worked with, those two fit into the definition of geniuses. There's a reason why they're both billionaires. It's not by accident. They have that secret sauce when it comes to making movies and telling stories.

But from my experiences with them, they're very different behind the camera. They're very similar when they're not working. They are both easy to talk to, just like a regular guy, when they're not working. But when they're working, you can tell they're preoccupied. They're thinking of multiple things simultaneously. They're wearing three or four hats.

There was a scene with James Cameron where I had to lead the crew out of the drop ship, and it was raining, and we had just arrived, and our characters didn't know what to expect. In films, when it rains, you have to have a lot of water so the camera picks up the rain. So, I didn't want to mess up a take. So just before we shot, I went up to James, and I said, “James, listen, when I lead them out, should I turn right or turn left?” He looked me straight in the eye, and he said, “Yes.’ and then he walked away. I think in his mind, he thought he had answered my question. But he hadn't, so I had to make an executive choice, and I turned right, and that was that. But I think it's because he's so preoccupied with so many things.

I see the same thing with Tyler. He is thinking of so many things simultaneously. He'll be talking to one cameraman, and sometimes we'll shoot with as many as five or six cameras simultaneously, and he'll tell camera three, “Listen, you're out of focus. Camera two, can you move left a little bit? Camera six, I need you to pull back. You're in the way of camera four.” He'll be talking all this, and at the same time, he'll know exactly what we're doing on set. He has this ability to multitask, and I think that is something that typically is more of a woman's talent, and I think these two men have managed to have that skill.