‘The kids pointed it out when they asked for condoms’: Makers of iconic hip-hop film House Party look back | film

Reginald Hudlin, writer/director

Black music videos were not played on MTV in the late 1980s. So while I was still at Harvard, I was making music videos in my head. One day, while listening to Luther Vandross’s “Bad Boy/Having a Party,” I thought, “This could make a great music video or movie.” And I sat down that night and wrote a script for a short film that ended up not only being produced, but showing at festivals and becoming a huge hit in the student film world. Spike Lee’s film She’s Gotta Have It sparked interest in up-and-coming black filmmakers. New Line Cinema saw my short film and brought me in for a meeting. I pitched an expanded version of my idea and they said, “Let’s do it.”

The studio wanted Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Instead, she asked Kid ‘n Play – also known as Christopher “Kid” Reed and Christopher “Play” Martin – to play the lead. I loved their music videos, their style and their look. But I still have to convince New Line. They said: Who are these? “They have platinum records,” I said. I had no idea if they did that!

The film — about a kid who gets suspended but can’t bear to miss the party of the year — kept everything from the student film. It was just a matter of building on the world and the characters. It was exhilarating. I remember thinking, “It seems like things are going well, but how do I know what it feels like to have things go well?”

Obviously, a lot of movies are inspired by House Party. This is great. I was inspired by Risky Business, National Lampoon, and Animal House. I watched Lovers Rock, a movie directed by Steve McQueen about black British life. It wasn’t a comedy, but I thought: “This really captures the same spirit as House Party.”

House Party is the only film that depicts a very specific period of hip-hop, before gangsta rap. She also spoke about safe sex, a booming issue at the time. “We’ll hide this,” I thought – like when you have to give your dog a pill, so you wrap it in bacon. We won an award from a health clinic in New Jersey that said, “Kids come in and ask for condoms and point to your movie.” That was one of the things I carried with me: making movies that are fun, but there’s nothing wrong with having a little protein in it.

Christopher “Play” Martin

Kidd and I worked hard for what felt like forever to sign a deal with Select Records. Our first album, 2 Hype, came out in 1988. The reason Reggie wanted us to break away from stardom was because of our music videos. We were very animated. I guess you could say the camera loved us.

I didn’t want to do the movie. Run–DMC’s Tougher Than Leather didn’t do well at all and I thought, “If Run–DMC can’t make a hit movie, how can Kid ‘n Play?” We were making more money legally than I had ever seen. It was a gamble to ruin the momentum. But I was outdone by Kidd and our producer, Herbie Love Bug. It was the best experience ever voted on.

We went to a meeting at New Line in the heart of Manhattan, in a suite on the nineteenth or twentieth floor. We got some scenes to improve, but they were terrible. I thought, “Well, we’re not going to get this movie.” The vice president from New Line picked us up on his way to a late lunch, but it was three in the afternoon, when all the high schools were opening, and all these kids who recognized us were flocking to us like we were the Beatles or the Jackson Five. This vice president went back upstairs and told his business partners: “We need to catch these guys.”

He made the movie feel like work, a nine-to-five job. There’s a part where I shove the equipment into the trunk, and I cancel out the speakers. The trunk landed on my hand hard, bending my ring. “Okay, take the next step,” Reggie said. I was like: “Dude, really?”

House Party is perhaps the best representation of that era. Even though Kid and I were successful musically, our personalities were still the same as any other rapper. The clever thing is that the movie never mentions what city or state we live in, meaning anyone could think it happened where we were.