Queen Latifah

EI: Is it refreshing for you to see a movie with a message but a message put out there with lightness and positiveness?

Queen Latifah: For sure, yeah. The issues are serious, but we handle them in a very positive and light way. Sometimes people get scared away by bullies who deal with serious subjects because they either feel that they have to take a position on it, or they start to make you feel guilty or not, like they have to land on some position about it. This is a movie to have fun. Think about it and talk about it at home…

EI: Do you think we’ve made some progress about these issues? Are we totally “integrated” right now?

QL: Obviously we have made progress, because you and I sitting here would not have happened way back in the ’50s and I would not have been able to be in a movie like this. Segregation is gone, but some of the mental institutionalized racism that you deal with, at least in America, still goes on. It’s a little bit annoying. And it’s funny because we shot this film in Toronto–a super multi-cultural city. I have never been in such a city where everybody enjoys each other’s cultural differences. They celebrate each other’s cultures, and it’s sad to come back here in the US and look at the separation that we still experience in America.

EI: The film is also about going for the dream. How is the state of dreaming in today’s society?

QL: There is no country like the US! When it comes to going for your dreams, well, a little girl from nowhere can grow to be a movie star or a rock star. No matter what, you should always go for your dreams because, really, what’s the alternative? Not going for them? Becoming what? Being unsatisfied because you never took a chance on something? I think it’s more important…

EI: Did you give any advice to John about being a woman?

QL: He’s got a wife, so I don’t think he needs my input. He had it covered. The good thing about John is that he is a nice guy. He is not a macho caveman because it would have been hard for him to play a woman. He actually cares for women–he respects women. Playing a woman for him was about celebrating all women. Let’s celebrate her curves. He designed the body suit–he made her very curvy, so he gets what it is to be a woman.