Latifah cooks up serious comedy

Latifah's career took off after her Oscar nomination

Actress Queen Latifah says her latest comedy, Cookout, has an important message highlighting the trappings of quick wealth and fame.

The film, which centres around a barbecue party held by a young basketball player to celebrate his $30m contract, was both written and produced by Latifah and her partner Shakim Compere.

Latifah said she related to the theme of the comedy, which was the transition that the central character Todd Anderson - played by Storm P - goes through as he adjusts to his sudden fame and fortune.

"People change on you - people think you change but a lot of the time, people change because they think you've changed," Latifah told the BBC.

"A lot of people who used to say, 'Hey, how you doing?' are not as quick to speak, because suddenly they think you're not going to speak to them.

"Fame comes with all sorts of weird little things, and it can be very challenging, especially for someone young."

Taking advantage

Latifah appears in Cookout as a security officer. The film also stars Ja Rule, Danny Glover and Farrah Fawcett.

The actress pointed out young basketball stars can and do come into money and fame very quickly.

The biggest thing of all is not to take it too seriously - just go out there and have fun Queen Latifah

She highlighted Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, described as "the most famous 19-year-old in America".

"Thank God he's got mum around him and people that care about him to shield him," she said.

"There are slick agents, and slick lawyers, and slick accountants. All of a sudden you have to be really smart - and not only smart but super-smart, and really protected to keep from being taking advantage of."

For her own part, Latifah - who producers music and television programmes as well as films - said she avoided being carried away with her own success by working with the same people since school. The core trio are Latifah, her mother, and Compere.

She argued that this meant there was a lot of loyalty and honesty surrounding her.

"That's something I think a lot of people don't have," she said.

"They don't have somebody to tell them the truth, so they get lost - they start believing the things they read about themselves in magazines as the truth, and their life is based round that.

"I haven't had that problem."

Oscar opportunities

Latifah had bit parts in films such as Jungle Fever and The Bone Collector, but shot to fame last year with Bringing Down The House and Chicago, for which she was Oscar-nominated.

She eventually lost out to co-star Catharine Zeta Jones, but she said that the nomination had given her a great number of opportunities.

Bringing Down The House made Latifah a household name

"The idea is to keep it all rolling," she said

"I don't mind that I didn't win that Oscar. The nomination was an honour. The Golden Globe nomination, the Screen Actors Guild award - all that stuff was great for opening up opportunities for myself and my company.

"The biggest thing of all is not to take it too seriously - just go out there and have fun."

She argued that some stars believe an Oscar nomination means they have "made it" as a serious actor.

But she said that she was just as happy to star in a film such as Scary Movie, "and have little kids come up to me and say, 'you were funny in that movie'."

"That means something," she added.

"That kid doesn't care about an Oscar, he only cares about the fact that you made him laugh - and he'll probably go and see your next movie because of that."