As August Boatwright in The Secret Life of Bees, Latifah translates her immense energy and warmth into a maternal strength, playing the oldest of three sisters who take in a white orphan and her black caretaker at the height of the Civil Rights movement. She talked with a room full of admiring journalists about playing a black female character who isn't a stereotype, cooperating with her bee co-stars, and toward the end, things got a little political. Queen Latifah wants you to know you have no idea who she'll vote for in that voting booth!
How was working with the bees?
I was like, look guys, I'm not gonna smash one of y'all. Just don't sting me. And they were very fine to me, since they get moody sometimes, especially when it's cold outside. And we shot on some kind of chilly days.
How did you get yourself into the more emotional moments of the story?
Music is very important to me. I connect probably quicker through music than I do through any other medium. I could literally play one verse of a Clark Sisters record, or eights bars, and something strikes me in such a way that it brings me right there. Usually I'm looking to some type of gospel, which tends to get right to my spirit. This movie, I can honestly say, I was so present. I was so in August's body. It was like, I know this person. I felt like these are my sisters. This is where we live, this is what we do, Zach is my godson, all these women are my friends. I just felt her. I felt connected to where we were, what was going on at that moment. Like I said, more than any film that I've done in a long time.
Did you have relatives or ancestors who personally experienced the Civil Rights movement?No, not really. I'm not related to any black person in the country... of course I got relatives! [The entire room bursts out laughing] My dad works with me on a lot of movies. Any question I had, I can just ask him, for someone who was actually around at that time. I also kind of grew up in the South. My grandmother and my aunts and uncles, a lot of them were from Maryland and Virginia. I experienced some racism in New York. Just go try to get a cab, you'll feel it. They'll pass me and pick you up. That immediately connects you to how painful it is. That's the kind of things that affected me as a kid.
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