One way to get over the weighty disappointment of a box office bomb is to go out and find your own star vehicle. Last Holiday star Queen Latifah has got back on the horse and is pushing through production on Welfare Queen.
The fact-based flick follows Latifah’s character as she sets about ripping off the US welfare system for a truck-load of cash. The script is being penned by newbie Abdul Williams.
QL will produce the project through her company Flavor Unit, as part of a first look deal with Focus Pictures and its subsidiary Rogue Pictures.
“This is the first major deal we've signed with a studio,” Latifah told Variety. “We did it because we felt confident we could go from Welfare Queen to Horror In The Hamptons, which is a script by Alex Mirkin about a bunch of 16-year-olds chopping each other up.
Latifah and partners started Flavor Unit as a music management company 17 years ago and have set about slowly developing it into a movie production team.
“We get our hands on a lot of material we can do well, and our dream is to work up to producing three movies a year. The deal isn't based on me being in every film.”
