"What Role Did Love Play in It" actress remembers Laurence Fishburne stunt mishap: 'He slapped the living s--- out of me'

Vanessa Bell Calloway has shared a striking behind-the-scenes story from the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. During one of the film's most infamous scenes, Laurence Fishburne, who portrayed the abusive Ike Turner, accidentally slapped Calloway for real instead of mimicking the motion.

"My face was pounding. It was like thump! One part of my brain was screaming 'Ow,' and the other part was saying 'Keep going, Vanessa. This is going to be good,'" Calloway recounted, describing the unexpected intensity of the moment.

The scene, often referred to as the "cake scene," depicts an episode from Tina Turner's 1986 memoir I, Tina. In real life, Ike Turner publicly humiliated Tina by forcing her to eat a whole cake. In the movie, the scene escalates as Ike shoves cake into Tina's face when she refuses and then slaps Calloway's character, Jackie, when she tries to intervene.

Calloway explained her approach to the scene in a recent interview with Cocoa Butter. She wanted to maintain authentic energy and adrenaline rather than rely on a stunt double. "I told the director, Brian Gibson, that I needed to be in the moment so I could rise and respond with the right energy," she said. "He agreed, and the stunt choreographer showed me how to react so it would look real, while the sound would be added later."

However, during filming, the coordination failed. "We missed the eye contact, and he actually slapped the living s--- out of me," Calloway remembered. "I slapped, rolled, got up, and delivered my lines. That's the take they used." She added with humor that the crew immediately rushed over with ice packs, but the scene stayed in the final cut.

Angela Bassett, who portrayed Tina Turner, received widespread acclaim for her performance as a woman enduring abuse from the person the public believed supported her most. In 2021, Turner herself revisited those years in the HBO documentary Tina, acknowledging, "I had an abusive life. There's no other way to tell the story."

Following Turner's passing in 2023 at the age of 83, Bassett honored her co-star and mentor. "Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course, and her determination to carve out a space in rock & roll, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a future filled with love, compassion, and freedom could look like," Bassett said.

Author: Sophia Brooks