Geffen, taking the role of co-producer, brought Paramount Pictures in to co-finance and release Dreamgirls. [22] A total of 783 singing actresses auditioned for the role of Effie White, among them American Idol alumnae Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson, former Disney star Raven-Symon, and Broadway stars Capathia Jenkins and Patina Miller. In the oral history Women of Motown by veteran music critic Susan Whitall, former Marvelette Katherine Anderson Schaffner talks about her group's Motown break: "We all sang in the [Inkster High] School glee club; that was one of the classes we had together. The success of girl groups had much to do with the market. Though Effie defiantly and desperately appeals to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams abandon her, forging ahead to stardom. [71], Following the success of the Cannes screening, DreamWorks and Paramount began a widespread "For Your Consideration" advertisement campaign, raising several eyebrows by demoting Jennifer Hudson to consideration for Best Supporting Actress and presenting Beyonc Knowles as the sole Best Actress candidate, as opposed to having both compete for Best Actress awards. Dreamgirls debuted in four special road show engagements starting on December 15, 2006, before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006. Gaye was not only Motown's chief solo male vocal star, he was married to Gordy's sister. After Warner's Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love failed at the box office, the studio shut down development on Dreamgirls. Andr 3000 of Outkast was also offered the role, but declined. Hudson was required to be rude and come in late both on set and off, and she and Condon went over Effie's lines and scenes throughout the week. Inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him. He stuck with a select group of songwriters who were told to write songs in first person and present tense. That isn't to say teenagers weren't also listening to the original Little Richard. Gordy did work on the Ford assembly line in his early days (the Gordy figure in the movie, Curtis Taylor Jr., played by Jamie Foxx, runs a car dealership), and he worked his way up in the music business starting as a songwriter for Jackie Wilson. [19] After sending Geffen the first draft of his screenplay in January 2005, Condon's adaptation of Dreamgirls was greenlit. Dreamgirls characters breakdowns including full descriptions with standard casting requirements and expert analysis. Their songs employed a lead voice with backup harmonies, and the music was a hybrid of soul, rhythm and blues, pop and 1950's doo-wop. [61] Ed Gonzales of Slant magazine found the entire picture too glossy, and declared that "the film doesn't care to articulate the emotions that haunt its characters". [5][47][48] The film's national release, at regular prices, began on December 25. 'Dreamgirls' Gets Standing Ovations, Cheers, Loretta Devine & Sheryl Lee Ralph Attend L.A. "The most surprised was Motown. "[22] Another Dreamgirls veteran present in the film is Hinton Battle, who was a summer replacement for James "Thunder" Early onstage and here portrays Curtis' aide-de-camp Wayne. In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a Black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", consisting of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. They sang to mixed audiences about courtship, boys, parties, parents and parents not letting them go to parties to court boys. As much as Deena Jones, Beyonc Knowles ' character in "Dreamgirls," was modeled on Diana Ross, the film's main character, Effie White, was based on Etta James, according to composer Henry Krieger. Male promoters did have ultimate control over the groups, and in what is arguably a tradition in the recording industry, some musicians were exploited: they didn't get credit for their work, it was released under a different name or they didn't get royalties. [76] On the other hand, director Bill Condon stated that "I think academy members just liked the other movies better"[77] and that he believed that "we were never going to win even if we were nominated. [45] The film's Los Angeles premiere was held on December 11 at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills. 2. [53], On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 206 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. Cookie Policy [40] Several musical numbers from the Broadway score were not included in the film version, in particular Lorrell's solo "Ain't No Party". [31] The presentation of Knowles over Hudson as the sole Best Actress candidate had interesting parallels with the film itself. "Dreamgirls" draws its story from the relationship between the Supremes and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr., although the end result is pure fiction, cinema and musical theater. Similarities to Aretha Franklin, however, are also hardly coincidental. As such, Hudson became one of the few actresses ever to win an Oscar for a film debut performance. [17], When Geffen co-founded DreamWorks in 1994 and dissolved Geffen Pictures, the rights to Dreamgirls remained with Warner Bros. Warner planned to go ahead with the film with director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Tina Andrews[7] in the late 1990s, following the success of Touchstone Pictures's Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. Ballard never reunited with the other Primettes, unlike the sentimental ending to "Dreamgirls." dreamgirls.movie. [17], DreamWorks' Dreamgirls adaptation came about after the film version of the Broadway musical Chicago was a success at both the box office and the Academy Awards. Gordy, like his counterpart in the movie, had aspirations of making movies. Dreamgirls is the first live-action film to receive three nominations for Best Song; previously the Disney animated features Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994) had each received three Academy Award nominations for Best Song; Enchanted (2007) has since repeated the feat. [78], At the Academy Awards ceremony on February 25, 2007, Dreamgirls won Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Sound Mixing. Initially, Deena is a shy . Curtis Taylor, Jr., a car salesman, breaks into the music business with big dreams. Ballard, the group's original lead vocalist, had a rough, grainy and more conventional rhythm and blues voice, as opposed to the light, lithesome sound of Ross' vocals. We had a lot of young men that were leaving home for the first time going into the military, and, of course, some never returned. The film won the awards for Best Picture Comedy or Musical, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. In Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy plays James "Thunder" Early, a character who's part James Brown, part Little Richard, and all Eddie Murphy. Terms of Use To restart her music career, she hires Marty as her manager and after a pep talk by him begins performing at a local club. When Early flames out, Curtis makes the Dreamettes into . [56], Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave the film three and a half stars (out of four) and the number-two position on his "best of 2006" list, stating that "despite transitional bumps, Condon does Dreamgirls proud". By 1975, The Dreams give a farewell performance at the Detroit Theater, inviting Effie for the final song. And it wasn't only menRuth Brown's "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean" was number one on the R&B charts in 1953, and number 23 on the pop charts. Soon people started talking about how the group's hit song "Dancing in the Streets" was about social uprising. [16] That same year, Geffen, who ran his Warner Bros.-associated Geffen Pictures film production company at the time, began talks with Broadway lyricist and producer Howard Ashman to adapt it as a star vehicle for Whitney Houston, who was to portray Deena. [23], Loretta Devine, who played Lorrell in the original Broadway production, has a cameo as a jazz singer who performs the song "I Miss You Old Friend. 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Wilson as Magic White, Effie's daughter, Paul Kirby as Promo Film Narrator (voice), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 17:27. [63], Many reviews, regardless of their overall opinion of the film, cited Hudson's and Murphy's performances as standouts, with Travers proclaiming Murphy's performance of "Jimmy's Rap" as "his finest screen moment. With Tom Eyen having died in 1991,[7] various lyricists were brought in by Krieger to co-author the new songs. [25] After briefly considering R&B singer Omarion,[26] singer/actor Keith Robinson was eventually cast in the role. The most inauthentic part of the whole portrait is the music, which owes as much to such mid-'80s pop dreck as "You Light Up My Life" as to the actual Motown sound. "[30][31][32], Hudson was required to gain twenty pounds for the role,[33] which marked her debut film performance. Among the more direct references are the uses of adapted Supremes album cover designs for albums recorded in the film by the Dreams. Of course, some of the girls were so young that chaperones accompanied them on toursometimes their parents. [7] The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant. Gordy also packaged Gaye, at one point, as a supper club entertainer -- a common strategy for R&B performers hoping to cross over to white audiences in those days -- a scene repeated in the movie with Early. Both men worked in the automotive industry before focusing on music, and integrated aspects of the automotive business into the music making process. Based loosely on the Supremes, Devine portrayed Lorrell Robinson (a character based on Mary . SUPREME BEINGS: WHAT 'DREAMGIRLS' GETS RIGHT, Detroit trio known as the Supremes have become a million-dollar enterprise in the space of a year through a combination of glamour trappings and a new rock n roll sound. Many of the other original Dreamgirls Broadway cast members, among them Obba Babatund, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Cleavant Derricks, were interviewed for a Jet magazine article in which they discussed their varying opinions of both the Dreamgirls film's script and production. He signs a trio of young women, the Dreamettes, gets them a job backing an R&B performer, James "Thunder" Early, establishes his own record label and starts wheeling and dealing. In the mid-to-late 1960s, they took on more of a tough girl image, wearing spike heels and tight leather pants to match their delinquent themes. But they also sang about love and crushes, mostly from the position of a patiently waiting, yearning girl. [7], After preview screenings during the summer of 2006, several minutes worth of musical footage were deleted from the film due to negative audience reactions to the amount of music. He writes and produces a comeback single for her, "One Night Only". Yet before girl groups, it was easier for a song to cross over than for artists themselves to do, says Warwick. Free shipping for many products! In a January 25, 2007 interview with NPR, Robinson expressed offense at the film's portrayal of its Berry Gordy analogue, Curtis Taylor Jr., as a "villainous character" who deals in payola and other illegal activities. [104], The payola scheme used in the film's script, to which Robinson took offense, is identical to the payola scheme allegedly used by Gordy and the other Motown executives, according to sworn court depositions from Motown executive Michael Lushka, offered during the litigation between the label and its chief creative team, HollandDozierHolland. [42] Among this footage was one whole musical number, C.C. [19][22], Dreamgirls musical supervisors Randy Spendlove and Matt Sullivan hired R&B production team The Underdogs Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas to restructure and rearrange the Henry Krieger/Tom Eyen Dreamgirls score so that it better reflected its proper time period, yet also reflected then-modern R&B/pop sensibilities. These grown-up themes contrast with The Shangri-Las singing healsongs about teenage drama. The timing of 'Postman' was excellent. There is even a brief appearance by a group resembling the young Jackson Five. But the songs were sometimes closer to real life than expected. Unbeknownst to them Effie is pregnant with Curtis's child, but she doesn't say anything. We sang one of The Chantels' numbersI'm thinking it was 'Maybe.' Curtis pitches a film about Cleopatra to star Deena, whom he has also married. By comparison, Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio remained open and active during Detroit's 12th Street Riot in July 1967. Just as it's gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song. Filming & Production It also employed call-and-response vocals and heavy use of tambourine. harder for the industries that marginalise them". He looks like Ike Turner, borrows his stage moves from Wilson and has some Marvin Gaye hovering over his character. [7] "Listen", with additional music by Scott Cutler and Beyonc, and lyrics by Anne Preven, is presented as a defining moment for Deena's character late in the film. Dreamgirls premiered on December 4, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, where it received a standing ovation. In the movie, the Dreams' album covers look like specific old Supremes albums. Character description, analysis and casting breakdown for Effie White from Dreamgirls. [16] The roles of many of the characters were related more closely to their real-life inspirations, following a suggestion by Geffen. Outside Motown, The Shangri-Las were singing songs about good girls loving bad boys, such as "Leader of the Pack." Answer. URL: Nader, Juli (Nov. 21, 2006). Girl groups subject matter articulated a common teenage experience, regardless of race, even as the culture around them was slow to catch up. "Love You I Do," with lyrics by Siedah Garrett, is performed in the film by Effie during a rehearsal at the Rainbow Records studio. The single-disc version of the soundtrack peaked at number-one on the Billboard 200 during a slow sales week in early January 2007. By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. [102] He repeated these concerns in a later interview with Access Hollywood, adding that he felt DreamWorks and Paramount owed Gordy an apology. [66] Holliday in particular objected to the fact that her 1982 recording of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was used in an early Dreamgirls film teaser trailer created before production began. "[54] Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 rating, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". All of this was part of his effortembraced by the girlsto convey a middle-class respectability. The following year, Jimmy has descended into drug addiction due to Curtis' focus on Deena, along with the rejection of the charity single he recorded. Towards the end, Curtis notices Magic in the front row, realizing she is his daughter. But Krieger has said the songs "are nowhere close to the Motown sound." leaves Los Angeles and reconciles with Effie in Detroit. In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a Black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", consisting of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. Wilson's own film double, character Lorrell Robinson played by Anika Noni Rose, is nothing like her, she says. . By contrast, the actresses who originated Hudson's and Knowles' roles on Broadway, Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph, respectively, were both nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress, with Holliday winning the award. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, it won three awards, including for the Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[9]. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. Khylah Eure, Mariah Goiran, Clara Alford and Kayla Carrington are tremendous as Featured Dancers. [92], The Dreamgirls novelization was written by African-American novelist Denene Millner, and adapts the film's official script in chapter form, along with fourteen pages of photographs from the film. But then again, hindsight is that there was a lot going on when 'Postman' was released. "This is not a singer-songwriter thing, where they were coming in with their own material," she says. [31], Dreamgirls received eight 2007 Academy Award nominations covering six categories, the most of any film for the year, although it was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, or either of the lead acting categories. [16], While Condon had intended to cast relatively unknown actresses as all three Dreams,[13] R&B singer Beyonc Knowles lobbied for the part of Deena Jones,[22] and was cast after a successful screen test. Has said the songs were sometimes closer to real life than expected produces comeback! 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