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TODAY — Pictured: (l-r) Nia Long and Taye Diggs appear on NBC News’ ‘Today’ show — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find Black folk who don’t like the movie The Best Man. A story that’s simultaneously about friendship, love and betrayal is something to watch. Not to mention the performances were incredible, from top to bottom.

You might find it hard to believe that later this month it will have been nineteen years since the film was first released. In celebration of the anniversary, TV One talked to several members of that cast about their memories shooting the film as well as some incredibly interesting behind-the-scenes information.

During his interview, Taye Diggs shared that the very memorable slap from Nia Long

Nia Long: “I remember the day that we were shooting the scene where he comes over to the apartment. There was just something not on the page. The moment was there but the words weren’t there. So I said, let’s just do it.”

Taye Diggs: “She really…she slapped the sh*t out of me, like for real. you get a moment where I go ‘Whooo’ and I stayed in it.

Nia Long: It was so loud and I thought ‘Oh my God, I really smacked him hard.’ And I’m so sorry. And I said, ‘Taye are you okay?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah…I’m good.’ I was thinking, ‘He’s not good.’

Take Diggs: “I was pissed! I was like ‘I’m never going to work with her again. How unprofessional.’ But then when I saw it on screen… But after that day, we were cool.

Thankfully, they were able to move past this moment. And Long was right. That slap made that scene. I don’t know if Taye Diggs was in his improv bag or he held his natural reaction long enough for it to be believable, either way, it worked beautifully. 

This episode of “Unsung Hollywood,” airs on Sunday, October 7 on TV One.

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