Queen Latifah death clause: Filmmakers not allowed to kill off actress in movies

Queen Latifah has revealed that she is so good at 'dying' that she was forced to include a death clause in her film contracts which prohibits producers from killing off her character.

The rapper turned actress detailed the unusual stipulation during a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers to promote her new film Girls Trip, in which she stars alongside Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish.

Recalling her and Pinkett Smith's first big screen outing in 1996 heist movie Set It Off, she applauded her ability to pull off a realistic death scene. "I died really good in that film, I died my ass off," she said of her character Cleopatra 'Cleo' Sims' demise following a shootout with police.

However, she soon realised that her talent was a double-edged sword and went to unusual lengths to safeguard her career.

"I put a death clause in my contract right after that movie. I was like 'wait a minute, I'm starting to die too good in these movies' and if I die I can't be in the sequel," she told Meyers before sternly confirming there would be "No more dying, that's it."

The 47-year-old star, born Dana Elaine Owens, has appeared in dozens of films ranging from The Bone Collector to Barbershop 2: Back in Business. During their trip down memory lane, she reminded Meyers of some of her best exits to date. "I got attacked by a squid underwater and died under there, then I got shot by a bunch of bullets," she said.

Asked which one of her deaths was her favourite, she said the killer squid in1998 American science fiction psychological thriller Sphere because it "was warm and cosy".

Watch Queen Latifah's character get killed in Set It Off: