The creator of Empire, Lee Daniels launched his new show, Star, on Fox. The pilot episode aired on December 14, showcasing the story of Star, an aspiring singer who wishes to become a popular artiste. The show features Queen Latifah, Benjamin Bratt, Jude Demoreset, Brittany O'Grady and Ryan Destiny taking the story forward.
While the story revolves around Star, her sister Simone, and Star's best friend, Alexandra, the show's real star seems to be Queen Latifah's character, Carlotta. In a recent interview, Daniels revealed that the show was written for Latifah. Explaining further, he shared that it was difficult for him to imagine her transform into Carlotta, with the wigs and the whole attire in the show. "In the show, she looks like these ordinary women that I grew up loving and cherishing," Daniels said in an interview with LA Times.
Latifah also shared that she loved portraying the character as well. She felt that Cookie (Lyon from Empire) is an upgrade and she got a little more paper. Latifah shares "I don't want to come in like Cookie. There's still all these other women who need their shine too. So that's where we kind of met. When he told me, 'I want to tell these women's stories, I want to make these women ...look good'," Daniels adds.
The Empire creator told Latifah that he wanted her to portray a woman who can be related to. The character brief given to her was simple – play a 9-5 working woman who occasionally has problems paying the bill, probably has a kid in jail, is left by her husband but is a devoted Catholic. "And I told her we were going to have fun with it. That she was going to be rockin' some magical wigs," says Daniel.
So what's with the wigs and her character? Latifah explains that it was her fantasy to wear wigs. She shares that you can do different hairstyles with the wigs. She admits that she doesn't like to cut her hair because, as soon as she shortens her hair, she awaits for them to grow back.
"But with these wigs I'm living my dream in a way, because every time a new hairstyle comes out, my sister would dye her hair. Every time I see her, I don't know what she's going to look like. Is the hair going to be pink; is it black; is it blonde; does it have streaks; is it up, down? And this is like me getting to live vicariously in that way," she explains.
