Tyrese is one of the most talented dudes in the game. Every time you turn around, he’s starring in a new movie, or hanging out with a sexy lady, or singing an even sexier song. That’s why when the Matt Alonzo-directed “Best of Me” came out, featuring him hanging out with model Eva Marcille and gifting her puppies, we imagined it being pretty close to a day in the life of Tyrese. We talked to Matt to find out how closely this video resembles Tyrese’s real life, and how much of it is music video magic.  

Doug: The video stars Tyrese along side model Eva Marcille, how did that casting come about?

Matt: Tyrese is completely into that world, so he knows all the actors and actresses. He had a couple of people that he wanted to use, and we also ended up having a casting just in case. We ended up getting her last minute, like last, last minute. I had to pick somebody else, but then he said she might be available, so I went over a few images and thought this might really work. It basically happened in the 25th hour, I think midnight or 1 am she OK. Our call time was like 6 or 7 the next morning and she was there. It all worked out, she had great energy on camera and they had great energy together, which really made the video sell. She was a great choice. 

Doug: They definitely have great chemistry. Tyrese has been in a lot of major motion pictures, so we all know that he’s a capable actor. Has was Eva as an actress? I know she’s kind of making the move from modeling to acting now.

Matt: She was amazing. I was so impressed, almost blown away. At first, I try not to give them too much. I try not to bombard them, just keep it simple so they can really adapt to what I'm saying and make their own character out of it. Then if I need to, I'll go in and fine tune it. I try to just give them a basic thing, and she took that and ran with it. She was amazing, I kept high fiving her because the energy we were capturing was great. I knew it would be a great piece because as long as you can sell the relationship, the whole video would sell. It defiantly brought the impact that we wanted it to.

Doug: Was Eva’s management involved in it at all? Did they ask to see a cut of the video before it was released or anything like that? Or was it just like any other actress?

Matt: She was more like any other actress from that perspective. Tyrese is involved with the editing process. We sent her out a few cuts, but she never said she wanted anything taken out or that her management didn't like anything. It was pretty much free for us to do our creative thing, and she was happy with it.

Doug: The video consists of a series of scenes between Tyrese and Eva, basically acting in love. What was the process like of deciding what each scene would be?

Matt: This is my 4th or 5th video with Tyrese, and usually what I do is write a treatment of what I think, then he'll have his idea, and we'll meet up and toss ideas back and forth. Just working everything out until we're happy with what we have on paper. Obviously we improvise when we get on set, but when I work with Tyrese it's more of a collaboration. We also wanted to make sure it was different that the other videos that we've done together.

Doug: I feel like I've been living my whole life with Tyrese out there being cool. He's just seemed cool and successful since he started. Because of that, I kind of picture this video being pretty close to what Tyrese really does on a day-to-day basis. Just hanging out with models on the beach all day. Do you have any idea how closely this video mirrors any morning that Tyrese lives?

Matt: I hang out with Tyrese quite often, we're pretty good friends, but I've never seen him bright and early unless we're working on an edit or something. He lives more of a busy life, anytime I'm there he's on the go and has things to do. He'll have two or three meetings going on at the same time, very fast pace. He does have a beautiful girlfriend and a relationship, so I'm sure he does have those types of moments, but it's usually a lot faster pace for him. Everytime I go over there, there’s 5 or 6 things going on. There is a party going on in the back, he's got a restaurant built behind his house, he's got basketball games going on, people watching movies in the theater, there is always something happening over there.

Doug: So, not a lot of time for him to paint?

Matt: No. (laughs) That was from a painter from the east coast and we had it shipped out the night before. It actually showed up on set like five hours late, we were freaking out if we were going to get it or not. It came just in the nick of time, they had to drop it off on set. UPS couldn't find the location because we were at this really remote beach house and it got crazy. But, no, I definitely don't think he has time to paint.

Doug: So, he just went over some of the brush strokes and stuff? Is that how that scene worked?

Matt: Pretty much, and we had some chalk and some other paint accessories for him to play with. Then he just basically did his thing over it. For me it was funny because Tyrese and I over the past year or 2 have become pretty good friends, so it was funny for me to see him painting and getting into that zone. Then as soon as we were done, we were cracking up laughing about it. It was great, though, it looked beautiful.

Doug: Yeah, I bought it. It might go back to me just thinking Tyrese is cool and can do anything. He's been doing it all for years now, from acting, to singing, to hosting MTV shows. I thought he could easily be a painter, too.

Matt: Oh, yeah. Even when I watch the video, I think "man, he looks like he's really doing it."

Doug Klinger is the co-founder/content director of IMVDb and watches more music videos than anyone on earth. You can find him on twitter at @doug_klinger.