Queen Latifah and Chris ‘Ludacris‘ Bridges are teaming up for the first time on screen this fall. The rappers-turned-actors will play family members in the upcoming action thriller End of the Road set for release on Netflix September 9.
Ludacris will play Reggie, brother to Brenda, played by Queen Latifah, a mother of two who fights to keep her family alive after they witness a brutal murder while on a road trip.
“Queen Latifah is the one who initially suggested [Ludacris] for the role of Reggie,” director Millicent Shelton tells ESSENCE. “I’ve been a long-time fan of the Fast and Furious franchise and his music but had never met him. The first time we met over Zoom I immediately knew that we would hit it off and that he would nail the role of Reggie. Chris understood that Reggie was that member in ever family that everyone loves but is a screw-up, and nobody expects anything of him yet there is more to him.”
Shelton, who is known for her work on 30 Rock and Starz’s Run The World, says this film is unlike any other that audiences have seen.
“When I initially read the script, I knew that I needed to portray this family as a regular middle-class family but also emphasize their experiences as a Black family traveling through the South,” Shelton explains. “We really wanted to hone into the truth of that experience by making it relatable to what really happens in African-American lives in the United States. Through all these trials, struggles, and tribulations, the family still has fun and love for one another which bonds them.
Beau Bridges, Mychala Faith Lee, Shaun Dixon and Frances Lee McCain also star in the film which follows the family’s plight in the middle of the New Mexico desert after they get caught in the crosshairs of the mysterious killer.
“In the end, we created a new genre of film with End of the Road,” Shelton says. “It’s a family-based action road trip thriller movie. Having that combination of action and the heart of a family makes it really special.”
Check out the trailer for the film here.