Queen Latifah has to wear discount wigs while filming TV drama Star because show creator Lee Daniels wants viewers to be able to afford her look.
The rapper-turned-actress plays beauty salon boss Carlotta Brown in the new series, and the role requires her to don an assortment of colorful wigs and weaves.
But she's not allowed to use high-end hair products.
"The idea definitely came from Lee," she tells WENN. "Hair is very important, particularly in the black community. So, even though she’s busy running a business and has many hairstylists around, she doesn’t really have time to really do her own hair like that, so wigs are a way of her changing up her look, expressing herself, doing something a little different, and keeping it fresh.
"She’s not afraid to take chances on it. It’s also maybe a little advertisement, a little display of what the shop can do and connecting to the community.
"These wigs are not primarily very expensive wigs. I think if anything costs over $20, then Lee will pretty much call me and tell me to take it off because he wants to make sure that we connect to a community that is really shopping in that price point, but still wants to look good and still wants to express themselves, even if they don’t have a lot of money."
Queen Latifah, real name Dana Owens, admits Carlotta is one of her favorite roles ever, because the character is so flawed.
"I like how much she’s been through and how many mistakes she’s made in life, but how gifted she is at the same time," she explains. "She’s a character who is extremely flawed, who’s been hurt, who’s made mistakes that have had dramatic consequences on her life and her future, yet she still has a huge capacity to love, and she never gives up... She never stops trying.
"I think she’s much more complicated and much more challenging for me as an actor to play than people might think because there’s so many layers underneath what Carlotta is feeling that I have to find so many angles into her at all times."
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