Urban Thought Collective

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood chats about her latest project, “The Secret Life of Bees.”
Presented by Electronic Urban Report.

Writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood began her big screen career with the hit film “Love & Basketball.”

The accomplished director is now taking her career from her ‘A’ game to ‘Bee’ in the new movie “The Secret Life of Bees,’ opening this weekend.

The film follows a young white teenager who is haunted by the memory of her mother’s death and escapes her abusive father to a small South Carolina town where she and her caregiver befriend three sisters on a honey farm.

While many of us seem to have some aversion to bees, Bythewood’s biggest fear for this film was that her actors – acclaimed stars Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning – wouldn’t click. In particular, Latifah, Keys, and Okonedo, who star as the Boatwright sisters.

“Because of these actors’ schedules, there was no time for rehearsal. I had one opportunity and it took a good three weeks to wrangle it,” Bythewood said. She only got three hours of one day to get Okonedo, Latifah, and Keys together, in one place.

“They had never met each other before and we didn’t know what was going to happen and we didn’t know if they were going to look like sisters – that was a big thing for me, too, because I hate watching movies and [siblings] don’t look like they’re from the same family,” Bythewood recalled. “At first it was awkward small talk and then we just kind of cut through it and started talking about the characters and their relationships with each other. It came clear really early on. We just saw them feeding off of each other it was like watching them building this sisterhood right there. They just clicked instantly. To build that sibling thing is tough, but because they like each other so much, it just helped tremendously.”

Bythewood raved to reporters that the cast was certainly an element that made the script move and the direction concise.

“There was a phenomenal cast. And my directing style, I kind of weigh more toward subtlety. That combination together helped a lot,” she said, “but, again, it starts with great actors.”

One cast member, Okonedo, definitely agreed.

“We were all very excited, she said of the cast. “I just thought, ‘This is an amazing cast.’ We were all friends and just had a ball. It’s been a pleasure.”

Okonedo also told reporters about how organic the script and direction made making the film….

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