Queen Latifah Biopic In The Works With Will Smith On Producing Duties

Hollywood powerhouses are hooking up to produce a biopic on Queen Latifah. Will Smith and producer Jesse Collins, along with Latifah’s own Flavor Unit are working together to tell her life story.

Deadline, who first reported on the production, says that the film is part of a new slate of movies documenting the lives of hip-hop artists. The biopic will be financed by HarbourView Equity Partners which owns the catalogues of numerous recording artists.

Smith will produce via his Westbrook Studios. Collins Entertainment has produced numerous Emmy, Grammy and BET Awards telecasts and the Super Bowl Halftime Show as well as  The New Edition Story and The Bobby Brown Story, so the terrain is familiar. Run by Latifah’s longtime partner Shakim Compere, Flavor Unit has produced TV shows and films with Latifah including The Perfect Holiday, Bessie and The Queen Latifah Show.

Born Dana Owens in Newark, New Jersey, Queen Latifah, 54, started as a rapper, hitting with iconic tracks like “U.N.I.T.Y” and “Ladies First.” She parlayed that early success into an acting career on the groundbreaking sitcom Living Single and then in the classic 90s girl-heist flick, Set It Off. She’s now playing the lead role on The Equalizer for CBS.

Along the way, she’s won a Grammy, an Emmy, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two NAACP Image Awards. Last year, Latifah was the first female rapper to be a Kennedy Center honoree. While she has never publicly come out, she and her partner Ebony welcomed a baby boy, Rebel, a few years ago.

“We all came into this industry together, and hip-hop has shaped each and every one of us,” Latifah and Compere said in a statement. “Hip-hop’s impact has expanded beyond just music and has created a lasting impression on culture and society overall. It is a dream to be able to collaborate with friends and colleagues that have not only a shared understanding, but are able to tell these stories that were the backdrop of our lives.”

Remarkably, all of the entities involved were founded by and run by African Americans. No one is yet attached to the biopic as a writer or director, and as for who will play the Jersey-born hyphenate, no word on that yet, either.

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