QUEEN LATIFAH NEWS, INTERVIEWS & UPDATES



News for 3/6/2007


Queen Latifah brings heart to ‘Life Support’
Actress plays HIV-positive woman with street-wise sensitivity

The Associated Press


PASADENA, Calif. - Queen Latifah never does the expected. So when asked about the challenges of playing an HIV-positive wife and mother, as she does in HBO's Life Support, her answer was, indeed, surprising.

"The only challenge was trying to stay in character when you've got people driving past you on the street going, 'Queen!' 'Do it Latifah!' 'That's LATIFAH!'" she says of the on-location shoot in Brooklyn last year for HBO's "Life Support" (March 10, 8 p.m. ET, with an HBO On Demand preview available Feb. 26-March 8).

"Most people try to be respectful, but they're excited to see you and they're hitting you with the name or some record that you did, so that was the greatest challenge," she says. "Playing this character wasn't."

To play Ana, a peer counselor at an AIDS facility in Brooklyn whose past drug addiction has put a strain on her family relationships, Latifah (nee Dana Owens) channeled the muse of the New York streets where the New Jersey girl hung out as a teenager.

"I grew up around these women and around these streets, so it was probably one of the more relatable backdrops that I've been able to sort of step into," says Latifah, fabulously coifed in long blonde and auburn curls and a form fitting black dress for a late afternoon press conference here.

"I really felt like I really could relate to the characters, to the situations, a family disrupted by drug addiction. I could relate to that just in my own family," she continues. "So I could relate to Ana's sense of wanting to get out there and see what life had to offer, although we took dramatically different turns. And redemption as well, having the second chance of really trying to repair those relationships after you feel like, OK, I messed up, but I'm back on track and I really want to get things back to where they were."

Such street-wise sensitivity was exactly what director Nelson George wanted.

"One of the nicest things about working on the movie was watching through the monitor — her face — there's so much going on in it and so much thought," says George, who co-wrote the film with the writing team Jim McKay and Hannah Weyer, based on his own HIV-positive sister.

"A good actor thinks, they're not acting, they're thinking, and she thinks all the time. She was definitely one of the few people I thought had that combination of charisma and realness to pull it off. I just knew this was a part that the sister could rock!"

Until now, Latifah has gone mostly the laugh route, with a string of comedies ("Bringing Down the House," "Taxi," "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" and "Last Holiday"), but it was time to shed a tear or two.

"I've always enjoyed dramatic roles," says Latifah, who turns 37 in March. "I mean, that's what actually made me really want to get into acting, was me playing this role in high school in 'Godspell.' That director is one of the best directors that I've ever worked with, to this day, and I can't even remember his name."

"But that show, carrying the body of Jesus down the center aisle of the auditorium, crying and singing this song, it just always let me know that I kind of enjoyed that. But I just had a big sense of humor, so playing the comedies is all fun."

The good times will roll later this year when the Academy Award-nominee will be seen starring as Motormouth Maybelle in New Line's cinematic rendering of "Hairspray."

"That was a blast," she says. "I mean just getting to do a musical again, a really big fun musical, and (producers) Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and (director) Adam Shankman promising me — because there was no script initially when I agreed to do the movie — that they would really, really do a great job with it and that I would have a really important part in the movie and I would get to wear a blonde wig."

Underneath it all — her career, not the hair — is her music, and she's now in the studio recording a new album.

The multi-hypenate (who shares executive producer credits with several others on "Life Support" including Jamie Foxx) is set to executive produce "Wifey," a hip-hop drama for BET and VH1, and she is in talks to star opposite Katie Holmes in the indie heist film, "Mad Money."

"I never want to put myself in a box — I like to be challenged in different ways," she says. "I've got a short attention span, so if I can't do different things then I get bored after a while."



News for 1/30/2007


Queen Latifah is Making Mad Money

Source: Production Weekly


Queen Latifah is in talks to join Diane Keaton in Mad Money, a remake of the British comedy Hot Money, according to Production Weekly.

The British telepic was based on the true story of three cleaners who were determined to get more money from the British Treasury than their night shift afforded them, but the new version will be transported to contemporary America.

In the crime caper, three working-class women conspire to rob their employer. The film is narrated by Keaton's character Bridget.

Callie Khouri is directing for MGM. Production is scheduled to begin late March in Shreveport, Louisiana.



News for 12/24/2006


The following article appeared in the October 2006 issue of Essence Magazine





The following article appeared in the September 25, 2006 issue of Newsweek Magazine






News for 12/23/2006


The following article appeared in the September 2006 issue of InStyle Magazine





News for 12/8/2006


Latifah to Host the People's Choice Awards

Source: CBS


Queen Latifah (Chicago) will host "The 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards," to be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 9 (9:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. The first awards show of 2007 honors favorite performers in television, motion pictures and music. The second round of nominees include "The Class," Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Rascal Flatts, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Click, X-Men: The Last Stand, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Over the Hedge and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Potential nominees for "The 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards" were compiled with the help of Knowledge Networks, a leading market research company. Knowledge Networks used its consumer research resources, which include the only projectable, web-based, nationally representative panel to identify a pop culture-involved sample of men and women ages 18-49. For each category, the respondents were provided with a set of candidates determined by national ratings averages, box-office grosses and album sales. The respondents then chose their favorites in Television, Movies and Music. They also had the option to write in their favorites where not included among the provided candidates. Their top three selections in each category became the final nominees. Fans have the opportunity to vote for their favorites in each category at PCAvote.com.

Queen Latifah is a musician, a television and film actress, a record label president, an author and an entrepreneur. Blessed with style and substance, Queen Latifah has blossomed into a one-woman entertainment conglomerate. Her television credits includes "Living Single." Her feature film credits include Chicago, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe nomination and a SAG Award nomination; Bringing Down The House, Set It Off, Living Out Loud, The Last Holiday, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown and Stranger Than Fiction, among others. Queen Latifah is also one of music's most-well respected rappers. She has earned four Grammy Award nominations as well as a Grammy Award win for Best Solo Rap Performance in 1994. In addition to music, film and television, Queen Latifah also wrote a book on self-esteem, "Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman," and she just wrapped shooting a starring role in Hairspray. Latifah will next be seen starring in "Life Support," which she also executive produced.



News for 5/29/2006


Latifah finds "Support" for HBO's AIDS movie

By Kimberly Nordyke


Queen Latifah has signed on to play an AIDS activist in "Life Support," a fact-based HBO TV movie about the HIV crisis in the black community.

The project is based on the life of writer Nelson George's sister and their family. George (HBO's "The Chris Rock Show") will direct from his script. Shooting begins next month in New York.

Queen Latifah's recent film credits include "Ice Age: The Meltdown" and "Last Holiday." She was nominated for an Oscar in 2003 for her supporting role in "Chicago."



News for 4/13/2006


Queen Latifah Goes On 'Welfare'

Real-life drama will launch Latifah's new production deal with Rogue


Queen Latifah may be the queen of many things, but given her successes in the entertainment industry, welfare isn't usually one of her domains.

According to Variety, the multi-hyphenate Oscar nominee will star in "Welfare Queen." The film will also be produced by Latifah's production shingle Flavor Unit, which has a new first-look deal with Rogue Pictures, the genre division of Focus Features.

The pic is based on the life of Dorothy Woods, a real-life woman who scammed oodles from the welfare system. By getting her names in the welfare records at least a dozen times and claiming something in the order of 49 children, Woods was able to collect nearly $400,000 in welfare back in the early '80s. She served eight years in prison.

Abdul Williams will write the script.

Latifah can currently be heard voicing a mammoth in "Ice Age: The Meltdown." She was seen earlier this year in the comedy "Last Holiday." The "Chicago" star will next appear in "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Hairspray."



News for 4/8/2006


Queen Latifah's Mammoth 'Ice Age' Undertaking

The rapper gives voice to a wooly mammoth with delusions of stature

By Hanh Nguyen
Zap2It.com


LOS ANGELES -- When it comes to entertainment, rapper Queen Latifah has just about done it all. She's released several albums, starred in a popular sitcom, earned an Oscar nomination for "Chicago" and recently launched her own line of Cover Girl cosmetics. For her latest trick, she's providing the voice for a very confused wooly mammoth in Fox's "Ice Age: The Meltdown."

In the animated family film, Queen Latifah joins fellow prehistoric players Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck. Despite her experience acting and singing, the rapper, born Dana Owens, discovered that voice acting was a whole new challenge since the dialogue is recorded alone in a studio before animation gets underway.

"Honestly, I never felt so insecure on a job in my entire life," she confesses. "I'm telling you, these things are so hard because you do it so many times that you're not sure if you're giving them what you want. I thought it was just me until I talked to Ray and I found out ... a lot of people feel this way because its such a strange way to make movies. It's like working in reverse."

She also gained a newfound respect for the work involved to bring these characters to life.

"Having to scream or go, 'Ugh. Oomph,' weird sounds like that over and over and over, it can be tedious at times ..." she explains. "[And] there are little small things that need to be brought across in the voice. And if you don't get it, you feel frustrated sometimes."

Owens plays Ellie, a wooly mammoth who doesn't see herself as a nine-ton pachyderm but as a nimble, nocturnal possum like her adoptive furry "brothers," Crash and Eddie. While this little identity crisis made for humorous situations, Queen Latifah felt that the viewer needed a good, solid reason why Ellie has intentioanlly denied her true heritage.

"It was part of the problem for me when I was trying to work through creating this character and making it all make sense. I was like, 'You know what, guys? We really need a scene where she realizes who she is and she figures it out because she remembers,'" says the actress. "They totally got it and they created this wonderful scene where she rediscovers and remembers who she was and how it all happened. She's only allowed herself to be the child of these possums all her life."

Accepting her true identity is also essential to Manny (Romano), who once thought he was the last of his kind in existence until he met Ellie. Now he has the option of repopulating the earth with mammoths. For Queen Latifah, the pair's struggles reflects one of the film's central messages.

"The family is what family is," she says, referring to both Ellie's possum family and Manny's relationship with Sid (Leguizamo) and Diego (Leary). "It's not necessarily what a family typically is supposed to look like, but it is what it is. It's about that connection and that bond."

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" seeps into theaters nationwide beginning Friday, March 31.



News for 3/5/2006


'Hairspray' Applies Travolta, Latifah

'Hairspray' may not have a lead actress yet, but it's got two Oscar nominees for support


As has long been speculated, John Travolta and Queen Latifah have signed pay-or-play deals to star in Adam Shankman's upcoming big screen version of the Broadway musical "Hairspray."

The two Oscar nominees will likely be joined by an unknown lead actress when production on "Hairspray" begins in September in Toronto and Baltimore with an eye toward a summer 2007 release courtesy of New Line.

As noted in Variety, Travolta will don a gown to play Edna Turnblad, the downtrodden housewife role originated by Divine in John Waters' 1998 feature and then played to Tony-winner effect by Harvey Fierstein in the musical. Latifah will play Motormouth Maybelle, a civil rights activist and dance show host.

Now, though, the search is on to follow Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur as zaftig, spunky star Tracey Turnblad. Open casting calls have been held in several cities, with more to come.

Travolta, last seen in "Be Cool" and "Ladder 49," has signed on for the lead in the comedy "Wild Hogs."

Queen Latifah, star of the recent "Last Holiday," will be heard in the animated "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown." She's also co-starring in "Stranger than Fiction."



News for 1/18/2006


Queen Latifah Premieres Movie in N.J.

By JANET FRANKSTON
Associated Press Writer


NEWARK, N.J. -- Queen Latifah hosted a hometown premiere of her latest movie "Last Holiday" on Wednesday, inviting hundreds of guests to a city movie theater.

As she walked along a red carpet laid in the middle of a parking lot Latifah said she was happy to be back in Newark.

"It just means I don't have to go far to get home from the premiere," said Latifah, who has homes in New Jersey and Los Angeles. "My whole family is here, so it's wonderful. I can celebrate with Jersey for a change."

Mayor Sharpe James gushed about the Newark premiere.

"She's our queen," he said. "This young lady is so multitalented. She's still the girl next door. She still comes home to Newark."

Latifah brought her co-star, LL Cool J. and comedian Joe Piscopo, a fellow New Jersey native, also attended.

"Here's a Jersey girl who could premiere this film anywhere she wants, but she gave Newark the jump on Hollywood," Piscopo said, referring to the film's formal premiere on Thursday. It opens at theaters nationwide on Friday.

The film also stars Timothy Hutton and Gerard Depardieu. Latifah plays a shy cookware saleswoman for a department store. Her character embarks on a dream European vacation when she is misdiagnosed with a fatal illness.

Earlier this month, Latifah became the first hip-hop artist crowned with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She made her musical debut in 1989 with the seminal hip-hop album "All Hail the Queen." Her third album, "Black Reign," earned her a Grammy Award in 1994. Her leap to television in 1993 with the sitcom "Living Single" widened her appeal.

Latifah's stint as soulful prison matron Mama Morton in 2002's "Chicago" earned her a supporting actress Oscar nomination.



News for 1/4/2006


Queen Latifah Gets Hollywood Star


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Queen Latifah has become the first hip-hop artist crowned with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"I think the reason I am here is to inspire African-American women who are rappers, full-figured women to know that they can do it, too," Latifah, 35, said Wednesday at the unveiling of the sidewalk's 2,298th star.

Family and friends, including actor Terrence Howard, cheered for Latifah, also an actress, singer, spokeswoman and producer.

"Who would have known that in the '70s, when a pink 8-pound baby girl was born, this is where she would be today. She came out screaming, 'Look out world, here I come,'" her mother, Rita Owens, said.

Born Dana Owens, Queen Latifah made her debut in 1989 with the seminal hip-hop album "All Hail the Queen." Her third album, "Black Reign," earned her a Grammy award in 1994.

Her leap to television in 1993 with the sitcom "Living Single" widened her appeal. She went on to star in such films as "Set It Off," "Bringing Down the House" and 2005's "Beauty Shop," which she also produced.

But it was the New Jersey native's stint as soulful prison matron Mama Morton in 2002's "Chicago" that earned her a supporting actress Oscar nomination and brought her singing acclaim.

Her latest release, "The Dana Owens Album," a jazzy collection of blues, pop and soul classics, earned her a Grammy nomination last year.

She is also a spokeswoman for CoverGirl and its record label, CG Vibes, among other companies.

She is co-chairwoman of the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, named for her older brother who was killed while riding a motorcycle she had bought for him.

She will play a woman with a terminal illness in the upcoming film "Last Holiday."



News for 10/8/2005


Lions Gate Films Gets Kidnapped

Source: Variety


Lions Gate Films has hired music video helmers Ryan Smith and Frank Borin to direct family comedy Kidnapped, starring James "Lil' J.J." Lewis and Bobbe J Thompson, says Variety.

The film is being produced by Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit production company with Latifah, Shakim Compere and Latee French on board to produce.

The story, written by Dwayne Alexander Smith, revolves around the kidnapping of three siblings after their parents win the lottery.



News for 5/18/2005


The following article appeared in the April 2005 issue of Upscale Magazine





The following article appeared in the April 2005 issue of Vogue Magazine





News for 5/1/2005


Latifah Shares Beauty Shop Secrets

By Paul Fischer
FilmMonthly.com


Queen Latifah could well be the reigning Queen of Hollywood comedy, as she royally bounces from one hit to the next. Cementing her screen presence with an Oscar nominated turn in Chicago, Latifah now stars in Beauty Shop. Here, she is Gina Norris, a long way from the 'Barbershop' - now she's in Atlanta making a name for herself at a posh Southern salon with her cutting-edge hairstyles. But when her flamboyant, egotistical boss (Kevin Bacon) takes it one criticism too far, she leaves his salon to open a shop of her own, taking the shampoo girl (Alicia Silverstone) and a few key clients (Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari) with her. Gina buys a rundown salon and inherits an opinionated group of headstrong stylists (including Alfre Woodard), a colourful clientele, and a sexy upstairs neighbour (Djimon Hounsou. The boisterous and voluptuous comic actress loves to talk, as she proved when she spoke to the media about her starring turn in her latest comedy, as Paul Fischer reports. (Read More...)



News for 4/7/2005


Queen Latifah is stylin'

By Donna Freydkin
USA TODAY


NEW YORK — Queen Latifah isn't trying to brag. Well, maybe just a little. But there's a reason she feels right at home at this Midtown hair salon.

This lady has a way with manes.

"I'm all right," Latifah says with a modest shrug, leaning back in her chair at the Rita Hazan Salon and surveying the potions, gels and mousses.

Latifah has become a bona fide hair professional, thanks to her own stint in beauty school to prepare for her new movie, Beauty Shop, the Barbershop 2 spinoff. It hits theaters Wednesday.

As Gina Norris, a scissors whiz and single mother who starts up her own down-home salon in Atlanta, Latifah snips the tresses of society ladies (Mena Suvari) and sassy sisters (Kimora Lee Simmons).

Latifah and fellow "stylists" Alicia Silverstone and Alfre Woodard attended a beauty boot camp at a salon in California, where they learned how to pretend to be hair pros. Latifah says she based much of the nurturing, indefatigable Gina on her own personal hairstylist.

The rest, Latifah says, came from her own personality.

"She's probably the closest person to me that I've ever played," says Latifah, 35. "Loving, fair and open. Family-oriented. Talented at what she does. She'll stand up for herself if she needs to, but she doesn't walk around starting things."

Though Latifah radiates an almost giddy exuberance on the big screen, in person she is quieter and more guarded. She's the first person to enter the room, ahead of her publicist and hair and makeup team, softly saying hello and getting her bearings before beaming that almost angelic smile of hers. Once she warms up to you, there's something kind and maternal about her, perhaps simply a sense that with her, what you see is what you get.

"She's so comfortable in her own skin because she is not afraid to be herself," says Rob Marshall, who directed Latifah in his 2002 smash Chicago. "She's just warm, and she engages those around her. The movie star is the same person you meet on the street."

And that person is itching to start a family, Latifah says. (Her real name is Dana Owens.) Gina, her character, is a widow raising a daughter on her own. Latifah, who won't discuss her relationship status, is planning on soon having her own brood.

She wants children, "as many as I have time for. I'd like to have and adopt. I think I'd be a great mom, honestly. I don't think I'll have any problem giving them all the love in the world. Discipline will be the hard part."

Having been in the delivery room with a friend, Latifah has witnessed the pain of childbirth, so that might toughen her up with her future offspring, she says. Or maybe not, given her own penchant for playfulness.

"I'm fun to hang with," she declares.


Like 'a big kid' herself


Latifah leans back in her chair and starts laughing to herself, putting on her sunglasses before promptly removing them and toying with their frame. "My nieces and nephews crack me up. There are things they shouldn't be doing, but it's so funny."

Maybe that's because, says Beauty Shop director Bille Woodruff, Latifah is "like a big kid" herself.

Case in point: When her film love interest, Djimon Hounsou, showed up for rehearsals on his motorcycle, Latifah immediately "wanted to ride it and rode it around the parking lot," Woodruff says. "She's a big fun kid. She loves paintballing. In your family, she's the cousin who's always happy and making everyone laugh."

But beneath that great big hearty chuckle of hers and the seemingly laid-back attitude of a woman who sips her soda and laughs about it not being diet, Latifah is a cold-nosed numbers cruncher who's active both on and off the screen. Ask anyone around her, and you'll hear the refrain: This woman is smart, so don't underestimate her.


Part of the process


"She's intelligent and shrewd," Woodruff says. "She thinks about things, and she's on it, and she's very well versed in a bunch of different topics. She's fun and a big personality and warm and witty, but she's also very, very smart. She's so good at making everyone else comfortable that people don't initially realize how her mind is always thinking ahead."

Adds Marshall: "She's one smart cookie. She wants to be in charge of her life and the direction of her career."

Latifah executive-produced the 2003 comedy Bringing Down the House, which earned $132.6 million, and was a producer for Beauty Shop. Being part of the creative process was "one of the best things," Latifah says. "Conceiving it, having it written, punching it up."

For Latifah, part of doing the job is making the jobs. "I think it's important to create projects as an actor rather than wait for them. I love being able to take an idea and sell it to a studio."

She pauses, a big smile breaking out on her face. "It's fun."

So is being an in-demand actress who just wrapped the dramedy Last Holiday, about a terminally ill woman, for director Wayne Wang (Maid in Manhattan).

Latifah has come a long way from the projects of Newark, N.J. In the late '80s, she started out as a rapper known for her girl-power anthems. She moved on to the Fox TV series Living Single and hosted her own syndicated talk show.

She appeared in a mixed bag of movies — 1996's critically praised bank-robber drama Set It Off and 2002's urban romantic comedy Brown Sugar— until her turn as brassy prison matron Mama Morton in Chicago earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. On Oscar night in 2003, she performed the nominated song I Move On with co-nominee Catherine Zeta-Jones.

And faster than you can say "all that jazz," Latifah was a superstar.

She hasn't abandoned music. Her 2004 jazz and R&B The Dana Owens Album has gone gold. And she has a rap album in the can.

"I had it done before the standards album even came out," she says. "So I may release it. I think some of the stuff on it, people can get into. I had my own thing, and nobody's filled my shoes yet. To me (a positive message) is what's missing."

Today, aside from rapper/actress/designer Eve, Latifah is the only female rapper to have successfully made the jump from disc to screen. But there have been misses among the hits: most notably, 2004's critical and commercial flop Taxi, which grossed $36.6 million and co-starred Jimmy Fallon.

But after Chicago, Latifah says, "there were a lot more opportunities for me. The notoriety was higher. The attention was a bit more." She tried to keep her life the same, but "your security has to grow. Your staff has to grow."


Just a girl from Jersey


Latifah herself, though, hasn't changed much, she says. She still lives in New Jersey, close to her parents. She's tight with her family. For fun, she tools around in one of her four cars, including a '65 Mustang and '71 Cutlass, or on one of her cavalcade of motorcycles, scooters and skateboards.

"I'm pretty much the same but trying to be better every day. I don't think the success has gone to my head. I don't think I'm alienating friends or losing friends."

Aside from a breast reduction she had for health reasons in 2003, Latifah has never given in to Hollywood's fitness fixation. Sure, she has shed about two dozen pounds by doing cardio exercises, yoga and Pilates and hiking and playing basketball. When she's on the road, she may do a Pilates tape or maybe an abs workout.

But she eats what she wants and has that glass of wine with dinner. "I'm just a big girl!" she says.

Her confidence doesn't hinge on her looks. "I really don't know how to be anyone else, and whenever I try to be anyone else, I fail miserably. Or I disappoint myself. It doesn't build my self-esteem, and it doesn't help me grow me at all."

But getting gussied up for the Oscars or the Grammys doesn't hurt. "All made up and dressed up and (with my) hair done — I feel beautiful because I already feel cool on the inside," she says. "I'm like, 'Wow, girl, you look pretty.' "

And she's trying to not let all the success, the magazine covers, the autograph seekers, go to her head. "This is all a gift," she says.

As any celebrity will tell you, fame has its perks. For car buff Latifah, it's "getting out of parking tickets. A cop sees you, and he likes you — 'Oh girl, just slow down, OK?' "

Sometimes, she concedes, she gets a break because her father was a cop. "But," she smiles, "I'll take the credit for it."

As for those other credits, what's ahead for this Queen? Aside from playing Auntie Em in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, which airs on ABC May 20, "more acting, more producing, more films, more television. There may be a directing job in my future. Whatever feels right."