'Beauty' Queen Latifah Splits Hairs
April 1, 2005 — -- There's Queen Latifah the Oscar-nominated actress, the Grammy host, one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. Then there's Queen Latifah the rap star-turned-icon who's never afraid to speak her mind.
In "Beauty Shop," we find Queen Latifah the stylist, who cuts a fine line between her two personas, looking for a happy medium.
When it came time for a female version of the surprisingly successful "Barber Shop" franchise, Latifah wanted to push the envelope with a group of raunchy gals cracking jokes about race, politics, sex and body parts.
The movie was almost too raunchy for its own good. Luckily, Latifah's commercial sense is just as sharp as her wit.
After reports of a small battle with the Motion Picture Association of America to keep the film from landing an R-rating, the PG-13 comedy opened Wednesday with hopes of reaching a broad audience.
"We wanted this to be for everyone, so we had to pull some of that stuff back," says the 35-year-old actress.
"It's not a movie with solely African-Americans in it. Anyone can come and see 'Beauty Shop' and get it and enjoy it. And what they don't get, they'll be intrigued by, so maybe they can ask, 'so what was that?' I think everything plays pretty well."
The first "Barbershop," made for just $12 million, racked up $75 million at the box office. But it was controversy over black characters skewering civil rights icons that helped fueled ticket sales.
In one particular scene, Cedric the Entertainer, playing an elderly barber named Eddie, launched into this rambling discourse:
"There are three things that black people need to tell the truth about," he says. "Number one: Rodney King should've gotten his a-- beat for being drunk in a Honda in a white part of Los Angeles. Number two: O.J. did it! And number three: Rosa Parks didn't do nuthin' but sit her black a--- down!"
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton railed against the film, and called on MGM to delete that scene when "Barber Shop" was released on DVD.
