the buzz log

You'd be forgiven if you thought Tyler Perry was a winter holiday. Every year, with clockwork regularity, a Perry movie draws in millions of box office dollars. The Guardian, just a pond-leap from Hollywood, dubbed him "Lionsgate's Most Valuable Player." Mr. Perry should prove he's the studio moneymaker again with "Madea Goes to Jail," another stage-to-film project.

For those who haven't caught up with the Kingdom of Perry (and missed Buzz reports on him in 2007 and in March and September of 2008), peruse these five (plus) factoids...

• Perry of course plays larger-than-life matriarch Mabel "Madea" Simmons (and she's large partly because Perry's 6-foot-5). The character blends his mom Maxine's wisdom and aunty Mayola's persona and gun. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution points out that Madea's a typical Southern endearment for grandmoms, short for "Mother Dear.")
• He has three successful projects out in three different mediums: television ("House of Payne"), film ("Madea Goes to Jail," tracking in the top 5,000 searches on Yahoo! this week), and stage ("The Marriage Counselor"). Hollywood Reporter calls him "one of the biggest theater draws in the country." Oh, his book—still on sale.
• Once a wristcutter to get away from his abusive father, Perry ultimately turned to religion as a salve.
• The former bill collector and homeless man could probably pay off a bunch of bills, after grossing $130 million in 2007, although he's having billing tiffs with contractors over his new house and Tyler Perry Studios, which opened in October.
• Besides email communications, Perry pays attention to his message board to see how much his audiences will let him get away with.

How does Perry measure up as a woman, by the way? Entertainment Weekly's slideshow "Cross-dressed to Kill" shows how tough it can be to be a man in a woman's world.