Gesica™ - The Cookout: An Interview w/Queen Latifah

Gesica™

THE COOKOUT

QUEEN LATIFAH

THE COOKOUT

Starriing: Queen Latifah, Tim Meadows, Ja Rule, Jenifer Lewis, Quran Pender, Danny Glover, Farrah Fawcett and Meagan Good.

There are so many women that have evolved into great actors and actresses.
And we look forward to seeing them in film and television expanding and perfecting that craft. There are those who have graced stages that the public can only imagine crossing. And then there are those who remain balanced on both sides. The universal person that enjoys doing it all.

By Tonisha Johnson

Radio, Television, Hair and Makeup. Tons of lights, cameras and mics thrown in your face. Endless questions, unexpected smiles and countless outbursts of laughter. Not only do the media want to get the “scoop”, but the cast welcomes you to it. Marketing and touring are obviously on both sides of the coin.

Finally after a stream of media outlets poking and tugging. Retakes and the never-ending One More Question...Latifah enters with all smiles. White pants, Orange blouse and pony tail extraordinaire, begins talking about her new film The Cookout, produced by Flavor Unit Entertainment, a company that starts and continues with longtime friend Shakim Compere. A long journey for her. From the rap world to the film world. Making videos and making films are no different. It’s all an art form to the Queen.

Why do this type of movie?
Queen Latifah: We did this particular kind of movie because we wanted to make urban movies. Fairly inexpensive urban films. We didn’t want to tell the typical story that we could tell. Some real hood story, shoot em’ up, bang bang, whatever. That we all see and we all know. We could tell those stories in our sleep. They’ve been told. And told well by some people, so we didn’t think we needed to tell the same story again. We wanted to make something that was more family oriented. A comedy. Something that is more of an urban film. I don’t know, some people seem to think that urban means black nowadays. But urban means citified for us. People from the city can identify with it. It’s not just for black people. It’s for Blacks, Latinos, Whites, Asians, American Indians, and Native Americans, whatever you want to say. It’s for everyone. So, that’s what we wanted to start off with.

Why did you pick New Jersey as the location for The Cookout film?
Queen Latifah: Once again, we are about giving opportunities. And we love Jersey. That’s where we’re from, that’s what we know. Our company is based out of New Jersey. We’ve been all around the world but home is home. And so for our first film project we had choices; we could have shot it in L.A and here and there, but, this is like one of our stories. And we need to tell this story in New Jersey, because this is where this story occurred. And so everybody else needs to come where we are. It was just important for us to start off in New Jersey as we have had with everything else we have done. We have good luck at home and we wanted to be able to employ people at home. To give opportunities at home and to stay cooperating with us. Everyone was very very cooperative, from the police to the local government, to the film commission. Because they want to continue to boost business and if we can boost business for our home state, why not? You never know how that favor can get repaid someday if you do enough business there. And it’s not like we want a bunch of favors but you made need one someday. Or someone may remember, hey you gave me a shot. Guess what I’m doing now. And that’s kinda how that happens sometimes. Your never gonna be on top all the time. You gotta treat people right as you go up the ladder.

Why star in your first attempt at filmmaking?
Queen Latifah: I wasn’t attached to the movie when we first sold it. It was just something that we thought would be a good idea. I couldn’t be in the movie heavily because first of all, the story didn’t require me. I’m not one of the main characters and there really wasn’t a role for me that required me to be one of the main characters. And also I knew I was shooting another movie at the same time. So I knew that I couldn’t be in two movies shooting heavily at the same time. This was like a fun little way to get Queen Latifah in the movie. Which I thought, obviously from a business perspective would help promote it. And the role was actually a fun character to play.”

Based on the level that you are now in entertainment, would you consider yourself a comedian?
Queen Latifah: There was a lot of humor in my house growing up. So did I think I was comedian funny? No. I still don’t think I’m comedian funny. I’m not, like, a comedian. Their (comedians) are naturally just gifted. But I think I have a pretty good sense of humor. And I have a pretty good comedic timing when I was doing “Living Single”. And people who had been in the business made that observation. It’s kind of hard to get that timing sometime, even for the best actor who don’t necessarily have that kind of comedic timing. Ummm, little things like that put a buzz in my ear over the years. Let me know that I could do this. And I just know that I laugh and if something is funny I’m laughing at it. I’m not one of those people who has to look pretty all the time in a movie. I’m willing to take chances with stuff. From “Set it Off” on, I was like, this is the time to take chances and do things differently. If your gonna just go there you might as well just go there.

Was it great to shut down the city to film Taxi?
Queen Latifah: “That was fun. It’s always good to not have traffic to deal with. The driving shots were very hard. Unfortunately when we shot Taxi, it was like a perfect storm of traffic. The UN convention, the UN Grand Assembly came into town. So, every delegate from every country in the world was here. Every street was shut down on us anyway. It was really, damn near impossible getting a lot of the shots off. We lost a lot of money in New York, to be honest with you, trying to nail those shots, at the time that we shot the film maybe another couple of months earlier we would have been fine but, you know, it’s what you got to deal with. But I loved it.

What type of experience was it from doing Taxi to The Cookout?
Queen Latifah: Totally different movie. Completely different. The one thing that is the same is that I was tuned up for both movies. I was tuned up for Taxi. I was informed so to speak. So, I could go over there and kinda hang and be ok in The Cookout, even though I’m totally switching to another character. But their both comedies, so I was able to stay in the comedy place. It’s different when your doing “Set if Off” and “Living Single”, you gotta go from sad to happy, from gangsta to happy. Its almost like schizophrenia, and that’s where my acting coach comes in. sometimes he’s just there you know, not to show me how to act but, to switch me from Queen Latifah, to Dana Owens to whatever character from the other character, to the singing girl, to whoever I need to be at that moment. To bring me back into whatever moment that I’m in.

I hear you have a new album coming out?
Queen Latifah: Yeah. I have a new singing album that’s coming out actually. It’s called the Dana Owens project. It’s an eclectic mixture of jazz, blues, soul and a couple of pop records on there. It covers from the 30s to the 80s. anything from Dina Washington records to Al Green to Jose Feliciano.

What would be your advice to someone trying to get down with film, music, etc?
Queen Latifah: It’s a hustle. And you have to know who you are and where you are at all times. Don’t lose track of who and where you are. Hustle, hustle, hustle. Unless you got some other hustle, you will have to hustle extra. Be seen. Wherever you can. If you’re not in yet, do as many plays as you can. Talent shows, whatever it is that you need to do to be seen to get a break. Casting calls and auditions. Be as savvy as you can. It’s a big business.

I guess you have to be “hungry” so to speak?
Queen Latifah: You have to be very hungry. It’s a tough business. And you can’t think that everyone is really out there to help you. You have to make them work for you. And you have to do your own homework at the same time. You need to be meeting as many writers and producers and directors on your own and not relying on an agent to do that. Even though some agents do it very well. And some don’t. So, you have to do your own work. And you gotta network and package. Package is really a word that people don’t understand. Package is when you can take Queen Latifah and put her in a room with Angela Bassett and put her in a room with LL or Wesley Snipes; now were all together; now let’s go sell this concept. Now that there is not only me attached, it’s us three attached and now let’s go get this movie made. When you start to link up with people it makes it a lot easier to do some of that stuff. Of course there are some good lawyers and good accounts. But don’t never let anybody else sign your checks.

How do you embrace being a role model?
Queen Latifah: It depends on what I’m being a role model for. I’m a role model for staying positive and being imperfect. And keeping God in your life. And being comfortable with who I am. And it’s not being comfortable with who you are and anybody else. I think that shows through and says something for other people. It doesn’t matter what size you are, it’s the confidence that you exhume. I don’t mind being a first. If I see an opportunity, I’m gonna go try and make it happen. If you get that opportunity; I’m cracking the door. You kick it down and keep it going. I’m not a selfish person, my partner is not selfish, and my company is not selfish. When we were a management company of gold and platinum acts, we were not about I’m a go make this decision for you and never tell you about your own business. If you wanted to know you were welcome to know. If not then that’s what were here for. But I think sharing information is very important because you create a smarter consumer which is our best customer. The more you know about your business, the better decisions you can make. And we all become more savvy. Will (Will Smith) came before me. And I said, well if Will can do it then I can do it. When I came through, then LL came through after that and got his show. Then Eve came through. La can do it, I can do it. But people get that attitude. But I’m cool being a first. I’m cool being a leader. Cause I followed as well. Because I know that nobody does this all on their own. And sometimes you need examples and you need inspiration and you take it where you can get it. But if you get that opportunity, represent. Don’t ruin it. Make it work. Don’t be me. Be bigger. And open up more doors for whoever comes after you.