Queen Latifah: Life Support

Queen Latifah shines in Life Support, the HBO Film’s story of how a former drug addict replaces her passion for drugs with becoming an activist for others. In this exclusive behind the scenes interview with Queen Latifah and Director Nelson George, Queen Latifah delves into her character’s inspiration and how the story hits close to home.

“THIS DISEASE AIN’T NO JOKE. AND I’M NOT GOING TO SHUT UP ABOUT IT. I DON’T CARE IF YALL DON’T CARE. IF YALL STOP DYING, I’LL STOP TALKING ABOUT. IN THE MEAN TIME, GOT TO USE YOUR HEADS SISTERS.”

NELSON GEORGE
Life support is based on my family story and the characters are based on my sister, my mother, even based on a couple of my nieces.

QUEEN LATIFAH
A lot of this was like an urban slice of life, you know, and I can relate to a second hand story in a redemption thing. Before her passion might have been drugs but with that passion being removed, that passion went from drugs to preventing drugs and to being an activist and to being a mother. She’s kind of the same person.

NELSON GEORGE
Four or five years ago when I first got the idea to do the film, I really centered it around my sister’s story. I followed her around for a month or two.

NELSON GEORGE
This one event. Everyone on the roof had red balloons, said the name of someone who died and released them.

QUEEN LATIFAH
Andrea and her team are on the front lines of trying to stop people from getting infected with HIV. They know what young people are saying and how they respond to birth control and protection.

When I read the script, it felt like a lot of things I’d seen and experienced.

NELSON GEORGE
When I met her to sit down and talk about the script, she knew the streets that I was talking about in the script. She knew this world, and she knew characters like my sister.

NELSON GEORGE
Though she’s really playful, Latifah’s really dug into some barriers and created some indellible moments, showing both strief and anger.

It’s been interesting to shoot because it’s so much family

QUEEN LATIFAH
This film has taken me through a roller coaster so far because it’s not the terrifying epidemic it was in the mid 80s. It’s like it’s yesterday’s news for a lot of people but it’s not yesterday’s news.

NELSON GEORGE
It’s a big problem today. It’s killing lots of people; it’s altering lives, and it’s preventable. And I’m hoping through this film, we open the dialogue about what’s going on here.



QUEEN LATIFAH
Life Support is based on life force as an outreach agency. And they go in and talk to different communities. It’s rough what they have to go through just to make sure they’ll continue to be funded to save lives.