Dreamgirls Tagged Articles at Cinematical

OK, so a musical comedy starring Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson has got to be a step up from a Tyler Perry movie, right? For Sharon Leal's sake, I certainly hope so. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Leal has joined the cast of Malcolm Lee's comedy musical Soul Men. The film centers on, "...bickering backup soul singers who haven't spoken in 20 years but reluctantly travel cross country together for a tribute concert to honor their famous former band leader." Leal will play Jackson's daughter Cleo, and thankfully will not serve as a love interest for either of the men. Leal starred in 2005's Dreamgirls as Michelle Morris, Effie White's replacement in the girl-group. Jackson and Mac will do all of their own singing and dancing for Soul Men, so I can only assume that since Leal has musical experience, she will be doing the same.

Christopher had first brought us news of the film last November. At that time, the only cast that had been announced was King of Comedy, Mac and Jackson. Surprisingly the project managed to escape being hit by the writer's strike that has been delaying productions left and right, and is set to start filming on January 21st (I guess Leal was hired just in time). The script was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, whose other credits included the Coen's Intolerable Cruelty and Man of the House -- neither of which is probably the best calling card for a screenwriter. Soul Men is scheduled for release on October 10th, 2008.

With its concentration on the music industry, it's easy to forget that the Grammys have a few movie-related categories. They include best compilation soundtrack album, best score soundtrack album and best song written for motion picture, television or other visual media. One thing that's always odd with the Grammys, though, is how many nominees are so old. Take a look at the score/composer nominees, for example: Babel (Gustavo Santaolalla); Blood Diamond (James Newton Howard); The Departed (Howard Shore); Happy Feet (John Powell); Pan's Labyrinth (Javier Navarrete); Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino). Only the last of those films came out in 2007. But the eligibility period for the Grammys is always October of the previous year until the end of September of the current year. All but Ratatouille's soundtrack were released in October, November and December of 2006. Since the Grammy ceremony is only a couple weeks prior to the Oscars, the ancient films honored are easily seen as that much more old news (Babel won the 2007 Academy Award for score).

Happy Feet was also recognized in the best song category, for "The Song of My Heart" by Prince (who already has the best soundtrack of all time), despite its not having received an Oscar nomination. Same goes for one of its competitors, Casino Royale theme song "You Know My Name", co-written (with David Arnold) and performed by Chris Cornell. Dreamgirls' "Love You I Do", written by Siedah Garrett and Henry Krieger (performed by Jennifer Hudson) is the only overlap from last February's Oscar nominees (it lost to Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth). The other recognized tracks, both from 2007 releases, are Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild and Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's duet "Falling Slowly" from Once.

Once is also a contender for best compilation soundtrack, though it faces a huge challenger in The Beatles, who are recognized for the album for the Cirque du Soleil show Love (how does that fall into this category and not the one for musical show album?) and indirectly for the soundtrack to the movie Across the Universe, which features covers of the band's tunes performed by the movie's cast. Other soundtrack nominees are retro musicals Dreamgirls and Hairspray. Sorry, fans of High School Musical 2.

I haven't seen Dreamgirls since its release last Christmas, but after sitting down to watch the DVD, which is arriving in stores tomorrow, I pretty much stand by my original opinion -- that the film is a solid B+ as a musical, but didn't exactly have the dramatic heft or originality to be in consideration for the Oscar. Looks like the Academy agreed with me. For those who still haven't seen it, Dreamgirls follows a trio of 60s singers, modeled on The Supremes, as they climb to the top, then fracture over love, money and fame, and then attempt to find success on their own. There are memorable songs, including Jennifer Hudson's signature "I Am Telling You I Am Not Going," and Beyonce Knowles' "Listen" towards the end of the film, and the film finds an interesting way to blend musical numbers together with the traditional style of movie musicals. If you are swept up in the story, you might not even notice the moment when that wall is broken and the actors start communicating to each other through songs instead of words.

Fans will be happy to know that the DVD is no slouch -- it's two discs, packed with a number of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a whole slate of extended and alternate scenes and some more interesting things that you rarely see. My favorite one a series of 'pre-visualization sequences' which means enhanced storyboards that are played in a slide-show sequence along with what I think is an early reading of the script pages. It serves as sort of an animated forerunner to the eventual scene that will be shot, and was probably extremely helpful to the director in setting up some of the musical sequences. In addition to the storyboard-style presentations -- and htere are several of them -- there are also dress rehearsals included, with stand-ins doing the singing and dancing. Some of these sequences even combine the rehearsal with the storyboard sequence, like the one for the "Cadillac Car" number. After watching that one, it seems like most of the hard work of this film was done before the actors even stepped on stage.

Though Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Hudson stole the Dreamgirls spotlight from Anika Noni Rose, it is Rose who apparently beat out Hudson (as well as ladies like Alicia Keyes and Tyra Banks) for the lead role in Disney's upcoming animated musical feature, The Frog Princess. (I'm sorry, but if Tyra Banks thought she had a chance here, then I'd love to have a little bit of what she's been smoking.) Rose will voice Maddy, Disney's first ever black princess -- a role that garnered the interest of practically every black actress/singer in Hollywood. And who can blame them -- heck, this is history in the making. Go Disney!

Set during the 1920s Jazz Age in New Orleans, The Frog Princess will be based on the classic fairytale and feature music from -- who else -- Randy Newman. Pic will also mark the first 2D Disney film since 2004's Home on the Range, and hopes to tap into the spirit of the Broadway-style musicals that were so successful for the Mouse House throughout the late '80s and '90s. In addition, Ron Clements and John Musker (directors of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid) have been tapped to write and direct. The first images of Princess Maddy have already been released, and though it's said to be early concept art, both pictures are in line with what you'd expect from an animated Disney Princess, in that she's pretty and petite with not an ounce of fat on her. How do you feel about the film? Is it just me, or does it feel slightly odd that it's 2007 and we're actually celebrating the fact that a major studio has decided to create their first animated African-American princess? Is this something that should have been done years ago?

Paul Verhoeven's Black Book is currently playing on nine big city screens, and slowly expanding to more in other parts of the country. It's a radical departure for Mr. Verhoeven. It's his first non-English film since The Fourth Man (1983), and it's his first non-exploitation film in decades. It deals directly with the Nazi persecution of the Jews and it runs 145 minutes. Clearly, he's trying to say something here. He wants us to know that, whether or not anyone liked Robocop (1987), Total Recall (1990) or Basic Instinct (1992), he never really took those films seriously.

Now, I don't think that's exactly true, but it's certainly the impression one can get. The truth is that while Black Book appears to be more important, dignified and serious than Verhoeven's other films, and while I like it very much, it actually has quite a bit less to say. Films from the lower regions can often get away with more subversive ideas than more prestigious films. For example, Black Book demonstrates once again how awful the Nazis were and how resourceful the Jews were, but Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (1997) sends a far more sinister message by forcing us into the perspective of the Nazi-like heroes as they try to exterminate an entire species of "bug." The film sweeps you up into a frightening mob mentality, so you cheer for death and destruction well before you realize what's actually happening.

I just caught Philip Gröning's extraordinary documentary Into Great Silence (2 screens and opening wider), about Carthusian monks living in a charterhouse in the French Alps. It runs just past two hours and 45 minutes and I would wager that no more than two hundred words are spoken throughout. The film merely shows the monks going about their daily business: praying, chanting, caring for gardens, shoveling snow, sawing firewood, cooking, eating, etc. I have to admit part of my enthusiasm for the film stems from the fact that it contains no talking heads or clips; I was just about ready to scream if I saw one more documentary shot in that tired old PBS format. But I was also drawn to the film's meditative rhythm.

Or is it just slow? Already some of the reviews have trudged out the word "boring" to describe the film, and certainly it's a hard sell. But why? It's apparent that Gröning doesn't have any particular viewpoint about the monks; he's not trying to sell us on their dignity or righteousness, nor is he trying to uncover some secret, seamy underbelly. He merely wishes to show them to us. And in his great, quiet stretches, a viewer can easily get lost in his or her own thoughts. Indeed, I believe that Gröning actually prefers us to get lost in our own thoughts.

If I had to describe last night's Oscar ceremony in one word, I'd have to go with 'predictable.' There were no real surprises, only a few minor "Oh, that was pretty cool" moments scattered amongst a slew of fairly boring, and fairly routine acceptance speeches. Judging by most of your comments, it seems the biggest snub came in the best supporting actor category when Eddie Murphy lost out to Alan Arkin. But c'mon, did you really think they were going to give one to Eddie? Heck, I was surpised Dreamgirls managed to score even two Oscars -- the whole best song part was laughable. Are we sure no one put a curse on Bill Condon?

And what about Scorsese? Are we happy about that? Granted, The Departed was far from his best work, but it was nice to see him have a chance up there at the mic ... even if he (and the rest of the cast) should have been up there at the end. Graham King standing by himself on stage to end the show was pretty -- how shall I say -- pathetic. If Little Miss Sunshine won, half the theater would have been on that stage. But, did the Oscars get anything right? Ellen played it safe, but she didn't "Letterman" bomb. The rolling shadow-dancing was pretty cool, albeit a bit annoying early on. They let the acceptance speeches for the major awards go without bringing up the music. Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly made the night with their little song and dance routine. Leo looked good, Jack looked bald and no one mentioned Anna Nicole Smith ... thank God.

So, I ask you: What were your favorite (and least favorite) highlights from last night's Oscar ceremony?

According to L.A. Weekly blogger Nikki Finke, there will be three presenters of the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing. Those presenters? None other than Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Finke doesn't go on to make assumptions, but I'll go ahead and speculate that the planners of the telecast know something about who will win this award -- or they're making a hopeful gamble. Of course it will be great television to feature three of the most important "New Hollywood" directors hand a long overdue award to a fourth member of that era, Martin Scorsese. Personally, though, I think if Scorsese is a definite lock for the award, then Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Barry Levinson and Roman Polanski should be the ones presenting it.

Finke has learned of a few other "surprises" we can look forward to on Sunday night, including an appearance by Tom Cruise to present his old boss at Paramount, Sherry Lansing, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Also, the supporting acting awards will not be announced at the beginning of the ceremony, as they usually are, and none of the scheduled performers from Dreamgirls (Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose) will sing the song they sing in the movie -- who will perform what is not revealed, however. As for montages, we can expect one directed by Michael Mann about the portrayal of America in movies and one directed by Nancy Meyers about the portrayal of writers.

It is being rumored that this year's Oscar telecast will be extremely long, so hopefully the Academy and the planners have some other surprises that are more exciting than these. Of course, many of us will be glued to the set the whole way through to find out which picture will be revealed as the best, but I think the media is overestimating the public curiosity this year and I doubt that many people will really care enough to be up that late.

Since its beginnings on Broadway in 1981, Dreamgirls has been widely known to be loosely based on the story of The Supremes. Of course, it isn't actually about The Supremes, as should be obvious from the names of the characters and the difference in events between those characters and any real people who may have inspired them. Unfortunately, some people don't think the differences are clear enough, or at least that the connections between the musical and the real world are too confusing for audiences. Therefore, Dreamworks has had to place an ad in The Hollywood Reporter apologizing for this confusion and clarifying that the movie is a work of fiction.

The ad especially points out that the character played by Jamie Foxx is not meant to be a representation of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. Earlier this month Smokey Robinson, who wrote many songs for The Supremes, slammed the movie for being a blatant, intended portrayal of The Supremes and Motown, saying that none of the characters are disguised enough as fictional, unconnected people. Though Foxx has defended his performance as not being based on Gordy, both Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Hudson have publicly mentioned some channeling of Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, respectively.

Here's some Tuesday news flavor to whet your movie palate:

• While there is still no word on whether Waters will buy the Senator and turn it into a smelly haven for sleaze, there will be more Odorama, at least for lucky moviegoers who score tickets to the Polyester screenings at the Jacksonville Film Festival. As part of their special "The Talkies" series, the fest will have a dual-night Waters feature. On the first night, the film will be screened to reacquaint audiences with it -- in all its Odorama card glory. The next night the film with be screened again, but with a special, live commentary by John Waters. For fans of the cult director, you can't get much better than that! [via Twitch]
• In October, Erik mused about a screwdriver-weilding Kim Basinger in her upcoming film, While She Was Out. In the film, she witnesses a murder and is subsequently terrorized, in the woods, by a group of kids with only a toolbox to protect her. Now, Lukas Haas has signed on to play the leader of the menacing gang. While it's flattering for Hollywood to consider people older than me to be suitable for kids roles, it's about time Haas got to act his age!
• Jennifer Hudson is continuing on her seemingly unending wave of "Nah, nah-nah. nah-nah, nah - American Idol!" success. She's topped off an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls with a history-making appearance on the cover of Vogue. She will be only the third African-American celebrity to make the cover of the 115 year-old mag (after Halle Berry and Oprah) -- and the first songstress to do so. The photo comes from Hollywood photographer extraordinaire, Annie Leibovitz, and it will be used for the yearly Power Issue. I wonder how crazy that is driving Fantasia...