Queen Latifah, whose Flava Films co-produced Beauty Shop, is enthusiastic about her new venture. She even studied hairstyling, so she can easily she could open a hair salon now, Queen Latifah admits.

"I don't think it's a bad thing in the sense that we can all relate to what goes on in a beauty shop," Latifah said during an interview on set. "And there are some great actors in the other movies, so I can't knock the movies. Sometimes great minds think alike and everybody kind of wanted to go there. But this is the official Beauty Shop - the one and only official Beauty Shop."

Queen Latifah and other actors in the movie spent two weeks at the Golden Touch salon in Inglewood, CA, learning the secrets and tricks of hair styling.

"I used to trim my hair way back in the day," says Queen Latifah. "I would use three mirrors and shape the back and a side of my head. It was kinda fun to learn the proper way to do it."

"The only similar thing is that we're in a beauty shop," Queen Latifah said last week when asked what would set her movie apart from the others in the same genre.

"Beauty shops differ from one to the next - depending on who owns it and who operates it and where it's located and the background of the people who come in there. Every shop has its own tone.”

The Beauty Shop story focuses on Gina (Queen Latifah), a single mother who has moved to Atlanta from Chicago in search of better opportunities for herself and her daughter (Paige Hurd).

Upon arrival she secures a job at an upscale salon owned by Jorge (Bacon), an eccentric and narcissistic control freak with bad hair extensions.

Unable to deal with Jorge's over-inflated ego, Gina eventually bolts and opens up her own shop in the 'hood. And although she faces a plethora of challenges including disgruntled employees, electrical blackouts and multiple citations from the state board inspector, she perseveres.

Gina's intelligence was one of the things that attracted Queen Latifah to this project. She also felt that Gina was a fully fleshed-out character who couldn't be typed.

Beauty Shop features a multicultural and recognizable ensemble cast that includes Alicia Silverstone, Djimon Hounsou, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon, Alfre Woodard, Golden Brooks, Sherri Shepherd, Della Reese, Keshia Knight Pulliam and a queen with tremendous box office appeal.

"Gina is a cool character because you think that she’s going to go one way - like goes off in the bathroom and fight the lady - but then she sees that there is another way to do this," Queen Latifah said.

"I like to see situations where we don't go with what the typical thought process would be. We actually do what a person might do in real life. We don't all sell drugs. There are different kinds of black people and it's important that you see that." 

 Other news