Jennifer Love Hewitt, who starred in 'Sister Act 2,' has thoughts about Whoopi Goldberg and Tyler Perry's plans for 'Sister Act 3.'
Jennifer Love Hewitt has no qualms about revisiting roles from her past!
Sitting down with ET for a rETrospective of her wide-spanning career, the 9-1-1 star reflects on her time playing Margaret in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, and shares her thoughts on Tyler Perry and Whoopi Goldberg's upcoming sequel, Sister Act 3.
Hewitt portrayed high schooler Margaret in Sister Act 2, during which Las Vegas headliner Deloris Van Cartier (Goldberg) is asked by her nun friends -- including Sister Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy) and Sister Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes) -- to revisit her witness protection alter ego, Sister Mary Clarence, to help teach music to teens at a troubled school in hopes of keeping the facility from closing at the hands of Mr. Crisp (James Coburn), a callous administrator.
"Let me just say, Whoopi Goldberg made my life in this," Hewitt gushes to ET about her time working alongside the 68-year-old EGOT recipient. "She was so kind and so amazing; [she] taught me so much on this movie."
Hewitt, Alanna Ubach, Ryan Toby, Ron Johnson, Devin Kamin, Christian Fitzharris and Mehran Marcos Sedghi depicted the students of Deloris' rowdy music class, who eventually go on to win the All-State Choir Championship and convince the school's local diocese to keep the school open.
Of course, there were a lot of other perks to being on the set of the musical feature. The film featured several musical heavy-hitters in the cast, including Lauryn Hill in her breakout role as high schooler Rita. Sheryl Lee Ralph played Florence Watson, Rita's mother, alongside gospel singer Erica Campbell of the duo Mary Mary, R&B singer Ryan Toby of the group City High, and The War and Treaty singer Tanya Trotter, who made appearances as members of the film's choir.
"I got to stand and just hear Lauryn Hill sing live every day, like who gets that opportunity? It was so fun, I loved getting to sing and dance, I hadn't really done a lot of like singing and dancing together at that point since Kids Incorporated, so I felt like I was back in my comfort zone a little bit," Hewitt recalls.
The star gushes about her affection for the cast that's still fresh over 30 years after the film. "It was just such a fun movie," she says.
Looking back on the experience, Hewitt admits that she probably didn't "fully take in" the significance of the moment since she was 14 years old. "I think there were moments that I was like, 'Oh my gosh this is actually [happening].' I remember feeling like super excited and terrified all at the same time the whole filming, but everybody was so kind and lovely and supportive," she shares.
Describing her character as "really funny" and "a little over the top," Hewitt says she was happy to observe the talent of her peers while on set. "Just getting to see that talent every day, I just felt like I'd won a contest to be there and watch the most talented people perform every day... it was amazing," she says.
Goldberg -- who starred as Deloris in the 1992 Sister Act original film and the sequel the following year -- has been trying to get Sister Act 3 into production for years and has been very vocal about wanting to bring the original cast back together for the planned sequel she's been working on for years.
The View co-host and Tyler Perry, 54, have been working together since they appeared on Watch What Happens Live! together back in 2018 and pitched a sequel. Disney ultimately announced in 2020 that the project would become a reality over on Disney+, but updates have been few and far between.
Talking with ET from Patti LaBelle's 80th birthday celebration in New York City on Thursday, Goldberg gave a promising update on the upcoming production. She said that while most details are being kept under lock and key, those who have been waiting 30 years since the last film came out will be happy to hear that things are happening behind the scenes.
"I can say it's coming," Goldberg shared. "It's coming around the mountain when it comes. It'll be here soon. I'm excited. It's time for it, you know, it's time."
The legendary actress added that after years of delays, she believes now is the right time to move it forward. "Because we need to laugh, you know?" she said. "I don't know what we're going into, but whatever it is, I'm gonna need to chuckle a lot...I think I'm good when I make other people laugh, too."
While Goldberg has been very open about getting an eclectic group of stars together for the cast -- tossing out names, including Lizzo and Keke Palmer, the latter who has expressed her own interest in the film -- she's also been campaigning for OG franchise stars to return for the third film.
Jenifer Lewis, who co-starred with Goldberg in the Sister Act films, expressed interest in returning for a third film during a visit to The View in September 2022.
A month later, Kathy Najimy made an appearance on The View, during which Goldberg credited the success of Najimy's Hocus Pocus 2 in reviving interest in the long-delayed sequel.
And earlier this year, when Sheryl Lee Ralph visited The View to promote the third season of Abbott Elementary, Goldberg surprised the star by asking her to return to the daytime talk show for a Sister Act-themed episode and to cameo in the third film.
With so many possibly returning to reprise their roles, is Hewitt looking to bring Margaret and her iconic rendition of The Love Boat theme song back to the masses?
"Listen, I would love to be in the third one! I have put it out there," the mother of three tells ET. "I said, 'Give me a ring-a-ding.' But I don't know that it's gonna happen. That would be cool, I would love to."
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