What's the buzz on Queen Latifah? Secret Life of Bees
Published on: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:27:00 -0700
For this edition of Monday Night Conversation, BlackTree TV CEO, Jamaal Finkley, sits down with the Queen, to find out whats all the buzz on her new movie, her new album, and her take on the state of Hip Hop 'Secret Life of Bees' brings issues of love, redemption and racism to the screen. By Jackie Burrell Contra Costa Times Article Launched: 10/13/2008 12:11:00 AM PDT In 2002, Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel "The Secret Life of Bees" buzzed up best-seller lists where it hummed and hovered for months. On Friday, the indie movie based on Kidd's story about a motherless child and a trio of honey-making sisters will finally make its way to the silver screen. But despite its book-club-favorite status and a star- studded cast ? headed by Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson ? the movie's path has been nearly as poignant and serendipitous as the book itself. Sitting in a plush lounge in San Francisco's Ritz- Carlton Hotel recently, director/screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood relaxed with her young star before the Mill Valley Film Festival opening. The novel, which sold 4.5 million copies, is on many schools' reading lists. Fanning, 14, calls it "a great book for people my age." She and her director talked about what it was like filming a story set against powerful civil rights-era themes just as Barack Obama was racking up his first big triumphs. Prince-Bythewood also addressed the motifs of motherlessness, abandonment and redemption that run through the characters' lives ? and her own. "The Secret Lives of Bees" tells the story of a young girl, 14-year-old Lily Owens, who runs from an abusive father and the deeply held belief that she is, somehow, "unlovable." Prince-Bythewood, a Pacific Grove native, was on a journey of her own, seeking her birth mother and trying to understand why she had been given up as a child when her older brother had not. But when she was offered the project seven years ago, she hadn't read the book and turned the picture down. Two years ago she heard that another director had signed on, and suddenly she was consumed with "this overwhelming feeling of 'That's my movie!'" She read the novel that night. "The book just wrecked me," she says. "Oh my God, I gave up this opportunity. It's about motherhood, sisters, learning to love yourself. I said those same words ? 'I'm unlovable' ? when I found my birth mother." Then, almost miraculously, everything fell into place. The movie's director walked, and all that was left was the book and its star, Fanning, who was finally old enough to play the role. "In retrospect, it happened at the right time," she says. "You grow a lot in five, six years. Being adopted was part of my journey. To pour myself into this script (helped me) get over the last vestiges of that tough time." In a matter of weeks, Prince-Bythewood had her stars ? all working for virtually no pay ? and a steady stream of cast and crew showing up with dog-eared copies of the book. Secret Life of Bees Footage Courtesy of Fox SearchLight Pictures This is a BlackTree Media® Production Produced by Jamaal Finkley Host Jamaal Finkley for BlackTree TV Shot on location, Toronto, Ontario Canada. http://www.blacktree.tv join our social network on http://my.blacktree.tv
Author: blacktreemedia
Keywords: Queen Latifah Jennifer Hudson alicia keys Dakota Fanning Will Smith Jada Pinkett Oprah Winfrey Sophie Okenedo
Added: October 14, 2008
