arts & entertainment
Latifah: the ‘Joyful Noise’
By kam Williams
Special to The Skanner News
B
orn Dana Elaine Owens in Newark,
NJ, on March 18, 1970, Queen
Latifah is an award-winning actress,
rapper, singer, author and entrepreneur. She
landed an Oscar nomination in 2003 for
Best Supporting Actress, as well as Golden
Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nom-
inations for her performance as Mama
Morton in “Chicago.”
In 2008, Latifah received rave reviews
and won a Golden Globe, SAG and an
NAACP Image Award for her powerful por-
Life of Bees” and “Just Wright.” Here, she
talks about her latest movie, “Joyful Noise,”
a musical comedy co-starring Dolly Parton.
kam Williams: Hi Queen, thanks for the
interview.Queen Latifah: Hey, Kam, no
problem.
kW: What interested you in Joyful
Noise?
QL: I felt that its timely, uplifting story
was perfect for me, given what’s going on
in the world right now. And I already loved
the studio, Alcon Entertainment. They’ve
made a lot of nice movies in the past [“The
Blind Side,” “Dolphin Tale,” etc.], and they
really do a great job of marketing their
films. And I liked the idea of
working with Dolly Parton
and Keke [Palmer].
kW: Larry Greenberg asks:
What was it like working
with Todd Graff? It seems
like he knows a lot about both
music and comedy. ?
QL: He really does. It was
great working with him
because he’s very thorough. I believe he had
an excellent grasp of every aspect of the
film from the music to the staging. He knew
exactly how he wanted it presented, which
made the process a lot easier. And he likes
to rehearse, which I do, too. So often, you
don’t get that opportunity. You only go over
everything once and, the next thing you
know, you’re on set. Todd had a vision of
what he wanted to do and, because he also
wrote the screenplay, it was easy for him to
Here, she talks about her latest
movie, “Joyful Noise,” a
musical comedy co-starring
Dolly Parton.
trayal of a mother who overcomes an addic-
tion to crack and becomes a positive role
model and AIDS activist in the black com-
munity in HBO’s “Life Support.” In addi-
tion to her film and television accolades,
she earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo
Rap Performance in 1994, and was nomi-
nated for Best Female Rap Solo
Performance for “Go Head” in 2004.
Latifah made her screen debut in Spike
Lee’s 1991 film “Jungle Fever,” and her
other film credits include “The Bone
Collector,” “The Last Holiday,” “The Secret
See QuEEN on page 7
January 4, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5