TeenHollywood.com, July 11th, 2007
Hey, the Queen looks good as a blonde! She thinks so too and let us know that she greatly enjoyed playing flamboyant dance show host Motormouth Maybelle in the fun musical film Hairspray. No stranger to musicals, the Queen was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal as a singing jail warden in Chicago. You see her constantly all glammed up in those Cover Girl commercials and she's always busy producing a film, acting or recording her music. Her Hairspray producers also produced Chicago and Hairspray's director/choreographer Adam Shankman directed Latifah's big hit Bringing Down the House so it's all one big happy family.
This one woman show is a delight in person; always friendly, chatty and ready to tell it like it is whether it's her opinion on listening to teens, her mom as inspiration for her character or the powerful racial equality messages in the movie and how they effect her. Queen entered our interview room wearing slacks, a pretty patterned black, green and white blouse and big silver hoop earrings. When we stuck our tape recorder on a table in front of her, she immediately noticed our big turquoise ring.
Queen: Oh, that's pretty. I like that!
TeenHollywood: Thanks so much! [we know the Queen has good taste]. Jumping right in... were you familiar with the stage show and the previous Hairspray movie?
Queen: Yes. Mm-hmm. I hadn't seen the movie in quite a while but I definitely went and saw the play on Broadway. And that's with Tevin Campbell [as Seaweed] in it.
TeenHollywood: How did you come onboard for this movie? Was it very early on?
Queen: Yeah. My agents called me. We came and met with [the producers] here at the Four Seasons and sat down and had some lunch and there was no script and most of the cast was not in place but I worked with them on Chicago so I know how they work. I have a good relationship with them. Adam was directing. I've worked with Adam. We had a great relationship so I knew that was going to be a breeze. John [Travolta] was probably the only person cast other than me. And so I kind of banked on the quality control of those guys that the script would be right and they talked to me about the character and how important she is to these kids really making a change. And I thought that was cool. And that I would have some good music to sing. That was nice.
TeenHollywood: You've worked with director Adam Shankman before. What is it about him that you really like?
Queen: Me and Adam, we click, man. That's my boy. He's crazy. And so am I so we work well together. And we just bonded a lot on Bringing Down the House. So I understand him. We're about to do All of Me Together, the remake of All of Me [a 1980's Lily Tomlin comedy] so we're going to be working together again and that's going to be fun again. I enjoy going to work and having a good time. It's tough when you got to work with people who just are in a bad mood all the time. I don't know, we had fun [on Hairspray] so, hopefully the people will come to theaters and make this movie a big success.
TeenHollywood: You had a lot of younger cast members. Did they come up to you for advice and did you give them any?
Queen: I did give them a little bit of advice when they came to me. Some of it I can't repeat because this is very sensitive stuff, but you know, those kids are all right. From everything I could see, they have their heads on straight. They were responsible. They showed up on time, they showed up ready to go. Time will help them and experience will help them learn how to be savvy in this business. And a couple bumps and bruises along the way will toughen them up a little bit but other than that they're good to go. They don't really need any advice. I'm not the type that's going to sit and preach to people if they don't need it just because I've been around the block a few times. Nah.
TeenHollywood: What about Nikki Blonsky? She was the lead and she's never done a film before.
Queen: She really impressed me. She's never done this; first movie, big movie, big cast, big stars, Oscar winning directors, producers and she handled it like a champ. I mean she was poised, she was excited, she was humble and she rocked it. I can't even see anyone else as Tracy Turnblad.
TeenHollywood: Was it strange working with Travolta in that suit as Edna?
Queen: I tell you we just got used to him like that. I mean I saw more of him as Edna than I did of John. He'd go in for three hours of makeup and he'd come to set as Edna. And even if he took the suit off, he still had the face and the hair, you know, until we shot again. So I kind of got used to him that way. He really had the sensitivity that she needed and the kindness. Edna's a sweet lady. You like Edna. She can be tough, too, but she had to find her inner tiger again. So I was used to him in that way. Yeah. Seeing him around here [for the interviews] as a dude is like 'you a dude! What up, John? How's it going?' [we laugh] He's nice like that anyway. He's a sweet guy.
TeenHollywood: Did you base your portrayal of Motormouth Maybelle on anyone you know, maybe a performer?
Queen: Not so much a performer. I tried to use some of the rap rhythm that I have in the repertoire and some of the disc jockeys that used to kind of talk very rhythmically. This character usually speaks in rhymes. And although that was changed for the film, we still wanted to keep a little bit of that rhythm. So there's certain places where I was able to inject that into it. But a lot of her is based on my mom who was a high school teacher and was one of those teachers that was really cool with the kids and they would come to her if they had some problems at home, whatever was going on, they would come to Ms. O [Owens] because she respected kids and she understood they needed to have respect just as much as give it.
TeenHollywood: She's really their confidant and friend.
Queen: And you know people are always trying to tell kids what to do like they have no mind and they're stupid when there was no heat in the school or when the books weren't there. Mom was like, 'hey, you need to organize.' Of course, the administration didn't know why suddenly three hundred students were in the auditorium sitting there [in protest]. But she was that kind of teacher that would help empower kids. And so that spirit is part of who I think Motormouth Maybelle is. She wants to see the future for them change. She wants black kids for sure to have the same opportunities and even a pleasingly plump little girl named Tracy Turnblad. So nothing should stand in the way of your dream. I got a lot of that from my mom.
TeenHollywood: A lot of people have said that the movie carries heavy messages but in a really upbeat, fun way. Would you agree?
Queen: Yeah. I think what's different about this movie is it doesn't beat you over the head with it. It's all over the movie, it's there. But it's a comedy, you know what I mean? Some people I think get nervous going to watch movies that involve some racism or size-ism for that matter because they feel like they don't want to feel guilty about things or they don't want to feel like, 'yeah, my grandfather owned your grandfather, but that's not me'. They don't want to feel bad about it. And black people don't want to feel like 'oh, there they go, dogging us out again'. This not really that kind of movie. It speaks to it, it says something about it but the way it deals with it keeps you in the right, keeps you in a light place at the end of the day.
TeenHollywood: I think your song during the protest march is the show-stopper. Can you talk about filming that scene and was it emotional for you?
Queen: Thank you. It was definitely emotional to me. It was something I would not allow myself to forget. And it's not easy when you've got a bunch of young people around you and they're cracking jokes all the time and they're talking but I didn't feel that type of seriousness where I needed to make everybody be quiet. Sometimes it's like that on a movie set and you're in it and you don't want hear a bunch of crazy stuff going on but I would never have so much fun that I would allow myself to forget that somebody marched so I could do this. And someone got bit by a dog and hosed by fire hoses so that we could do this, so we could sit at this table together, different nationalities and races and talk. Or dance. Or make music [okay, now she's made us want to cry].
Shooting that scene was emotional, too. It was weird because they wet the street down, one of the streets we shot on. And it was like I'm looking at all these kids and black people and this truck is shooting this water out and it just reminded me of seeing images of people getting hosed and falling down and running and fear. So, yeah, all that was in the back of my head. All that was like underneath.
TeenHollywood: I thought I saw a tear rolling down your face during that song.
Queen: You might have. You might have because I love that song. The song alone just gets me there. Just the lyrics, the melody and the emotion of it, so I mean I'm glad because there's a couple of scenes that give you a minute to catch your breath and just sort of go into a different place and then it shoots you right back up. So you leave feeling good. I got you on that.
TeenHollywood: How do you feel about '60's music? Do you like to listen to it?
Queen: I love it. I love it. And I feel like it's making a comeback, too with people like Amy Winehouse and Lauren, what she used on her album and there's another girl Sharon something I've been listening to. I mean that kind of music, that rhythm, that sound, it's just, it's so simple and powerful. Yeah, I hope that comes right back, too. That would be nice.
TeenHollywood: The teens in the audience when I saw the movie were really getting into it, moving with the songs.
Queen: Yeah. For sure.
TeenHollywood: And that music isn't from their generation.
Queen: No, it sure wasn't. But music is universal so if you do it right it's going to resonate with somebody, you know?
TeenHollywood: Are you working on recording any music right now?
Queen: Yes. I'm about to finish my album in the next two weeks. It'll be done by the 30th. Another half like jazz and eclectic stuff, all covers. It'll be out on September 18th.
TeenHollywood: What is it called?
Queen: Travelin' Light.
