Queen Latifah, a legendary actor, singer, rapper, and producer, is known for her impressive body of work in both music and movies.
However, in the past, Latifah has had a tendency to die on-screen in some of her films, such as in “Set It Off,” “Sphere,” and “The Bone Collector.”
As a result, the actor has now put a “no death” clause in her contract for future projects.
Latifah’s characters cannot die in any of her upcoming films, and she has good reason for the clause.
During a 2022 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, she explained, “You know, what happened at the beginning of my career … my characters died in the movies and apparently I died my a** off. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, if I keep dying in these movies, I can’t do a sequel’.”
She then instructed her team to include the clause in her contracts. “Henceforth, we kind of threw it in there,” she said, calling it a “little off the cuff funniness.” Latifah went on to say, “No more dying. No more getting shot up by 300 bullets in this car.”
The Chicago star even joked that it became a running joke how frequently her characters were killed off. “No, I noticed I was too good at it, so it’s kind of a running joke,” she said.
Latifah isn’t the only actor with unique contract clauses.
Tom Cruise reportedly has a clause that prohibits his likeness from being used for merchandise, which means his face cannot be used on toys and video games. This clause has resulted in video games like Mission: Impossible III and War of the Worlds not featuring his exact face on-screen.
Similarly, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson required that his character in the Fast and Furious franchise never loses a fight to co-stars Vin Diesel and Jason Statham in action scenes.
Overall, these clauses show that actors have the power to negotiate unique terms in their contracts based on their preferences and past experiences.
