Actress Essence Atkins: Tyler Perry Should Not Have Cast Kim Kardashian In 'Temptation'

Actress Essence Atkins is not pleased about Tyler Perry casting reality TV star Kim Kardashian in his latest film, “Temptation.”

The “Deliver Us From Eva” star spoke about Perry’s decision with publication Sister 2 Sister.

“I found it interesting that Tyler did that with 'Temptation,' hiring Kim Kardashian because she has 16 million Twitter followers, which would seem like a brilliant marketing plan.

He has one of the biggest Twitter personalities out there in his movies, and he had one of the worst box office weekends.”

When Perry announced that he cast Kardashian back in 2011, many were surprised, as she is mainly known for her role on the reality TV series hit “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Many thought she was not a fit-enough role model to be in the movie, which is about the consequences of making bad decisions.

He later defended his cast member, saying, "She literally has millions of young people following her. I thought and still do think that it would be very responsible of her to be a part of this film," he wrote in an open letter posted on his website.

"To have the young people that look up to her see her in a film that is about what happens in life when you make the wrong choices. Whether you're aware of it or not -- to be honest with you, I wasn't -- millions of young people adore her and are following her every move."

The movie did not draw her fans, however, and earned $22.3 million its debut weekend.

“It’s not a failure, but it did worse than his movies usually do just based on him,” Atkins said about the film’s earnings. “I thought that was an interesting finding. You’re experiment didn’t work.”

Atkins went on to say that just because Kardashian has many followers via social media does not mean that they want to watch her act in a film.

“People want to see good stories. It’s not necessarily that they want to see Kim Kardashian in a movie. They want to see her in a bikini. They want to see her with Kanye [West].

They want to see her on her show talking about her life with her sisters, but that doesn’t mean that they want to see her in a movie,” she continued. “The fact that people want to see their lives and the volatility of that ... I don’t’ think that it translates at all.”