Vivica Fox in Sister 2 Sister Mag

Vivica A. Fox is making a pretty penny producing straight-to-DVD movies, and she's concentrating on being happy and hardworking.

Vivica A. Fox is on top of the Hollywood game and she's not too shy to toot her horn when needed. When you don't see her onscreen, that's when she's busiest. It's always refreshing to hear from the actress-turned-producer because she's so full of energy and spunk. Despite some of the negative energy that is thrown her way, Vivica always manages to put on a smile and say something funny. She got with S2S Publisher Jamie Foster Brown to discuss her transition into the next phase of her career and life. She was on the 2007 season of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and had a decent run on season three of "Dancing With the Stars," although she was surprised that she was kicked off so early in the season. "We was doing real good, but things happen," Vivica said. "The next week, I got 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' with Larry David, so ..." In our interview, Vivica talked about her marriage that didn't work out and what she's looking for in her next husband. The 42-year-old Indiana native described how she keeps her body so sexy and said she's open to adoption, at this point, because she's "too old to be walking around pregnant and all of that." She also discussed the expensive lesson that she learned from her DUI arrest in 2007 and told Jamie that the hardest phone call she had to make before the news hit the media was to her parents. Read on for Vivica's description of her latest triumphs, downfalls, and how this strong woman handles it all. *** Jamie: You are amazing! Vivica: Girl, I am such an early riser! I got cats who wake me up, and then usually the trainer comes to the house. Jamie: You are a transformer. Vivica: You are hilarious! Jamie: But are you not? I don't see anybody else everywhere like you are. Vivica: But you know what? I'm gonna give hats off to Lita, my manager who--we're always trying to find the next thing. Like, "Vivica, we should be producing this. Vivica, we should ..." She's such a wonderful partner to have. Jamie: You've had her how long? Vivica: Twelve years. Jamie: Why did you choose her? Vivica: Lita started off as my lawyer. When I, years ago, started as a young actress, I was needing to get incorporated. I remembered that I'd met her at Paramount Studios and she told me she was a lawyer. She gave me a card, and I was like, "Wow. I never met no lawyer as fine as what you are, girlfriend, but go on with your bad self!" [laughs] She helped me with that, and from there she went to Magic Johnson Management. I was with somebody at the time, but I wasn't happy with them so she said, "I'll manage you for six months for free." You know, that's always the good bait and switch--if it starts working out, great. And gosh, the rest is history! We have now co-produced about eight films, and-- Jamie: You're kidding me! Vivica: Yeah! Yeah! Jamie: Tell me some. Vivica: We just did the sequel to Two Can Play That Game called Three Can Play... Motives I and II. We also co-produced a play, Whatever She Wants, which I don't know if you know, but I was on the road with Boris Kodjoe, Richard Roundtree, Little G from Silk. That was really, really successful. Oh, what's that one movie with Duane? Jamie: With Duane [Martin]--with Tisha's husband? Vivica: [Seat Filler] Uh-huh, yeah. Jamie: That nut! That's a nut. Vivica: I know. I love him to death. We also co-produced Getting Played with Bill Bellamy, Carmen Electra and Stacey Dash. And we co-produced "Missing" with Lifetime. Jamie: So does that mean those are intellectual properties that, should they play again, you get residuals from them? Vivica: That's right! Jamie: Okay. So people don't understand that. I'm always teaching in my magazine. Vivica: That's good! Jamie: I want them to understand. Vivica: So basically when I say "produce," that means I'm getting two checks. Jamie: Right! [Vivica laughs] So the backend--explain the backend stuff to me. Vivica: Well, what happens with the backend deal is that--oh I forgot, we also co-produced The Salon thing. Jamie: And when is that coming out? Vivica: That came out--it was only in limited release, unfortunately, because we did that film like three to four years ago. And what happened is that the director sat on it for just a little bit too long. Jamie: Can we pick it up on DVD? Vivica: Yes, it's now gonna be out on DVD. Jamie: Tell us a little bit about it. Vivica: Salon is kind of like a Barbershop meets Soul Food. It was about a single mom who owns her beauty shop. It had been in her family for over a couple of decades and the city wanted to buy the beauty shop and tear it down and make it into a parking structure. She got this big check and got offered money for a buy-out, but instead she learned the lesson of how good the salon was for the community. Jamie: Really? Vivica: Well, you know, when you go to the hair salon, get your hair done, sometimes that's where you be venting all your issues! Jamie: Mm-hmm. Vivica: And you never know that day that you'll lift a person's spirits up. They come in there with their hair tore up, go out looking real pretty. [laughs] You know what I mean? So you know, it's a good ego boost as well. Jamie: Why did he sit on it so long? Vivica: I don't know! I don't know. Mark [Brown] was supposed to have done Two Can Play That Game with us. Jamie: Right. Vivica: And because we wouldn't make it White, he decided he couldn't make it--the film. So we went on to produce it and did it ourselves! Jamie: He wanted it White? Vivica: Well, he wanted it to be more White than Black and we were like, no. Our base audience for this movie is African American, and it just happened to cross over. Jamie: Two Can Play That Game--that thing is still popular. How well did it do? Vivica: Well, what happened is that it only made about $23 [million]--25 million in box office, but in DVD and on cable, it was huge! And the reason why it stopped there was because 9/11 happened. I will never forget that I was scheduled to go on the "Jay Leno" show because it was doing so well. It was in half the theaters and we were just hanging in there. Our per screen average was just off the chain! And then Osama just decided to come in. I said couldn't you have picked another week? D#%mit. [Jamie laughs] Messing up my movie! [both laugh] But it's all good. You know, it was an unfortunate incident. So that was the reason the movie theaters closed down for three or four days. You know, the world basically stopped. And by the time the movie theater and everybody got [going again], it had lost a little bit of its steam. But it still did well and I have [people of] every nationality walk up to me saying, "Vivica, what a great job." Jamie: You did do a great job on that. Vivica: That's one of my favorites. Jamie: How well do you do when it goes into DVD mode? Like, it used to be that if the movie didn't do well, then you just had to wait till they got it on television. Vivica: You see, this is another thing that people need to understand too, 'cause I've read some comments online. People really don't understand the business of movies that go to DVD. Just because you make a movie and it goes straight to DVD, it's not a bad thing! The business has changed so much. People aren't going to movies anymore. Sometimes people are wanting to go into the store, pick out their favorite star, get their movie, take it home and they're content! For me, it doesn't bother me if I do a movie that goes straight to DVD, which more than likely I'm producing. It's another credit for me and Lita as a production team. And also, every time that we get a movie done, we get bigger budgets for the next one! Jamie: Master P--that's how he made a lot of money; he went straight to DVD. Vivica: Exactly right. Jamie: Do you get more money going to DVD than you do in the movie? 'Cause when you sign the movie deal as an actress, you get paid a fee, right? Vivica: Right. For more, pick up the January issue of Sister 2 Sister, on newsstands now.