Rapper turned actress
Queen Latifah has teamed up with Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and HBO to executive
produce the original movie, Life Support, a film about the growing AIDS
crisis in America.
Life Support, written by critically acclaimed author Nelson George along with
Elizabeth Hunter and Jim McKay & Hannah Weyer, is based on the life of George’s
sister and has gained increasing support from the Black community.
The movie centers
around the life of Ana Willis (Queen Latifah), a former drug addict who is HIV
positive, who overcomes her drug dependency to become a wife and mother committed
to educating people in the black community on how to protect themselves from
becoming infected.
Wendell Pierce, (The Wire), Anna Deavere Smith (The West Wing),
Evan Ross (ATL), Tracee Ellis Ross (Girlfriends) Tony Rock (All
of Us) and newcomer Rachel Nicks are all on board to star in the film.
Evan Ross, will play Trace, a gay teenager and childhood friend of Willis’ daughter
who was born HIV-positive and ends up on the street, selling his AIDS drugs
for money. Ross’ real-life sibling Tracee Ellis Ross plays his older sister
in the film as well.
Production for Life Support is slated to begin this week in New York.