Cast, crew swept up in secret life

WATHA, N.C. -- The setting sun reflects on the porch of a garish pink farmhouse as Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys stand, in ‘60s dress, gazing toward the west.

Dakota Fanning runs down a path toward them while a film crew struggles to capture the moment in the fading light. After several takes, they resort to bringing in a spotlight as filming on “The Secret Life of Bees” nears its conclusion.

A setting sun was fitting.

It was Latifah’s last day on set in this crossroads farming town about 30 miles north of Wilmington, N.C., last month. A few days later, filming wrapped on the Fox Searchlight Pictures adaptation of the beloved first novel by Sue Monk Kidd. The book was a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 3 million copies and remaining on bestseller lists for months.

Although it took years to bring it to the screen, moviegoers this fall will finally be able to see the civil rights-era drama of white girl Lily (Fanning) who runs away with her black caretaker (Hudson).

The two live in a small South Carolina town with three sisters, the Boatwrights (Keys, Latifah and Sophie Okonedo). The sisters are beekeepers and live in a house that is described in the book as Pepto-Bismol pink.

Co-producer Lauren Shuler Donner bought the rights before the story -- first published six years ago -- was even in print.

“I wanted it so badly I didn’t want to lose it,” she said. “It’s based on characters who go on a journey and go through an emotional arc. I thought all that would translate to the screen.”

But, she said, translating a well-loved book to the screen “is one of the most dangerous things a filmmaker can do.”

Writing the script fell to director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love & Basketball”), who got nervous when she finally sent her version to Kidd.

“She actually didn’t respond for three days and I was completely freaked out,” Prince-Bythewood said. “Then I got this amazing e-mail thanking me and saying how much she loved it.”

Kidd said it was a tough process for her too.

“When it finally arrived, I found I could not read it immediately,” she recalled. “I kept walking around it. You have turned over your novel to have it adapted into this other form and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Latifah plays August, one of the beekeeping sisters, and said it was the kind of part she had always sought.

“These black women are educated property owners; business, you know, entrepreneurs, and they have a good bond -- a good foundation as a family,” she said.

At first, the producers thought they might use computer-generated bees. But they didn’t look realistic.

So in several scenes, Latifah removes honey from real hives amid thousands of bees. Because she plays an experienced bee keeper, she does it without a mask and gloves.

“It was tough. I was very nervous,” said Latifah, who wasn’t stung. “I’ve done all kinds of stunts. I’ve driven all kinds of cars. I have shot guns and I have snowboarded. The bees win.”

Fanning, 14, who grew up in Georgia, read the book several years ago after her grandmother told her about it.

“I have lived with the story for some time and that’s why it’s really special,” she said. “The book is amazing and such a classic story of the South.”