When their first single "Cadillac Car" fails after white pop group "Dave and the Sweethearts" releases a cover version, Curtis, C.C., and their producer Wayne turn to payola to make "Jimmy Early & The Dreamettes" mainstream pop stars. Privacy Statement Dreamgirls . The British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave the film awards for Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Music (Henry Krieger). "Creative License or 'Sour Grapes'? 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. The book was released on October 31, 2006. ", Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, Best Actress Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture or Television, Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, "STAGE TO SCREENS: "Dreamgirls" Composer Krieger and Co-Star Rose; Plus David Warren". Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatund, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. 5, 537553. He looks like Ike Turner, borrows his stage moves from Wilson and has some Marvin Gaye hovering over his character. [84], For the opening performance at the 2007 BET Awards on June 26 of that year, Hudson performed a duet of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" with her predecessor, Jennifer Holliday. As a result, more than fifty high schools, colleges, community theaters, and other non-commercial theater entities staged productions of Dreamgirls in 2006, and DreamWorks spent up to $250,000 subsidizing the licensing. Yet before girl groups, it was easier for a song to cross over than for artists themselves to do, says Warwick. [60] Roeper still enjoyed the film, noting that Jennifer Hudson's rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" as the "show-stopping moment of any film of 2006" and very much enjoyed Murphy's performance as well, remarking that "people are going to love this film. She died broke, at age 32, in 1976. "[64] A review for The Celebrity Cafe echoes that Hudson's voice "is like nothing weve heard in a long time, and her acting is a great match for that power-house sound. He gathered a stellar group of area jazz musicians (all men), known collectively as The Funk Brothers. The character of Deena Jones leaves the Dreams in 1972 to pursue a career as an actress. Character Lorrell Robinson Show Dreamgirls Gender Female Age Range Young Adult, Adult Role Size Lead Dancing Mover Voice Soprano High Note G5 Low Note D#4/Eb4 Vocal Technique Belting, Pop Time & Place Various cities throughout the U.S., 1960s-1970s Tags It's a story filled with intriguing characters, plenty of plot twists and, of course . [16] The completed film had a production budget of $75 million, making Dreamgirls the most expensive film with an all-black starring cast in cinema history. [98] There is also a solo album, Just In Time, recorded by Deena Jones shown in the film, the album cover for which is based on Dionne Warwick's 1970 album, Very Dionne. But the success of girl groups had to do with more than harmony and lyrics. [68] Three months later, twenty minutes of the film specifically, the musical sequences "Fake Your Way to the Top", "Family", "When I First Saw You", and "Dreamgirls" were screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, with most of the cast and crew in attendance. [5] At the 79th Academy Awards, the film received a leading eight nominations, winning Best Supporting Actress (for Hudson), and Best Sound Mixing. [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. This is a hit with the audience until Jimmy goes too far and drops his pants. In casting Hudson, Condon recalled that he initially was not confident he'd made the right decision, but instinctively cast Hudson after she'd auditioned several times because he "just didn't believe any of the others. | When Early flames out, Curtis makes the Dreamettes into . [101], However, Smokey Robinson was less than pleased about the film's allusions to Motown history. [20] Condon did not start work on the Dreamgirls script until after making the Alfred Kinsey biographical film Kinsey (2004). "[59], On the December 10, 2006 episode of the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper and guest critic Aisha Tyler (filling in for Roger Ebert, who was recovering from cancer-related surgery) gave the film "two thumbs up", with Roeper's reservations that it was "a little short on heart and soul" and "deeply conventional". [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. [7] The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant. [6] The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit girl group known as "The Dreams" and their manipulative record executive. And even if it gets much more right than it does wrong, "Dreamgirls" is still an imagining of the rough and gritty life of the R&B performer, a pop musical divertissement rather than an earthy, true-to-life account. We lost! In Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy plays James "Thunder" Early, a character who's part James Brown, part Little Richard, and all Eddie Murphy. [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. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! . They force Curtis to nationally distribute Effie's record to avoid being reported to the FBI. [28] Though Barrino emerged as an early frontrunner for the part,[29] Hudson was eventually selected to play Effie, leading Barrino to telephone Hudson and jokingly complain that Hudson "stole [Barrino's] part. Hudson to Upgrade "And I Am Telling You" Video: Dreamgirls director Condon wants clip to attract wider audience. [72], In addition, Dreamgirls was the first film in Academy Award history to receive the highest number of nominations for the year, yet not be nominated for Best Picture. [22], Principal photography began January 6, 2006 with the filming of dance footage for the first half of "Steppin' to the Bad Side," footage later deleted from the film. 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. [100] On the other hand, Mary Wilson attended the film's Los Angeles premiere, later stating that Dreamgirls moved her to tears and that it was "closer to the truth than they even know". Filming & Production "If you think about the Little Rock Nine in Arkansas in 1967," she says, "of nine black teenagers chosen to integrate the schools, six of them were girls. Written by composer Henry Krieger and playwright Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls is said to be a fictional story based on girl groups of the 1960s such as The Supremes, The Shirelles and The Marvelettes - but speculation that it was based on The Supremes and their relationship with Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records has been Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie telling her that Curtis is Magic's father. They're pictured during a routine they'll do on an upcoming Red Skelton television show. He writes and produces a comeback single for her, "One Night Only". [citation needed] A scrapbook, entitled Dreamgirls: The Movie Musical, was released on March 27, 2007. [69][70] The resulting positive buzz earned Dreamgirls the status of "front-runner" for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture and several of the other Oscars as well. [81] The film was also nominated by the Producers Guild of America for Best Picture and the Directors Guild of America for Bill Condon's directing. 'Dreamgirls' Gets Standing Ovations, Cheers, Loretta Devine & Sheryl Lee Ralph Attend L.A. 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. And the same non-threatening, pure quality that was letting black girl groups cross over into white culture was giving young women force in the civil rights movement. "[30][31][32], Hudson was required to gain twenty pounds for the role,[33] which marked her debut film performance. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, vol. So the emblem of the teenage girl is being imbued with a lot of political significance. Dreamgirls debuted in four special road show engagements starting on December 15, 2006, before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006. Though Effie defiantly and desperately appeals to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams abandon her, forging ahead to stardom. [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. From the stage, they told the audience what was happening outside. [46], Similar to the releases of older Hollywood musicals such as The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story, Dreamgirls debuted with three special ten-day roadshow engagements beginning on December 15, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, and the AMC Metreon 15 in San Francisco. Similarities to Aretha Franklin, however, are also hardly coincidental. Original Broadway Cast of 'Dreamgirls' Feels Left Out of Movie History. This seemingly passive attitude and general lack of depth in song subject matter makes it easy to dismiss girl groups music as trivial and, in contemporary terms, less than radical. ", The girl group era was also the civil rights era. For. ", "Musically, the girl group soundand popular music at the time in generalwas drawing on a lot different sources," says Warwick. Geffen, taking the role of co-producer, brought Paramount Pictures in to co-finance and release Dreamgirls. They watched performers on stage who were their age. "[77] Reports emerged of significant behind-the-scenes in-fighting between the DreamWorks and Paramount camps, in particular between DreamWorks' David Geffen and Paramount CEO Brad Grey, over decision making and credit-claiming during the Dreamgirls awards campaign. Gordy, like his counterpart in the movie, had aspirations of making movies. These dark moments, where shadows fall across the dazzling film, resonated with truth. Little Richard's song 'Tutti Frutti' [could] access that white suburban middle-class audience, but Little Richard himself [couldn't] do that. [9] Dreamgirls received eight NAACP Image Award nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Outstanding Album (the soundtrack LP). [49] Both DVD versions featured alternative and extended versions of the musical numbers from the film as extras, including the "Effie, Sing My Song" scene deleted during previews. Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Silver Tie Music Producer in Final Audience with Marty Madison, Greatest Supporting Actress Oscar Performances (1990-Now), Broadway to Hollywood Musical Adaptations, (based on the original broadway production book by), director of photography (as Tobias Schliessler), makeup department head (as Tym Shutchai Buacharern) / makeup designer, hair stylist: Ms. Knowles (as Kim Kimble), character dental prosthetic designer: Eddie Murphy, additional second second assistant director, second assistant director: second unit (uncredited), lead designer: end title sequence, Picture Mill, construction coordinator (as Stacey McIntosh), prosthetic dental appliances: Eddie Murphy, assistant property master (as Andy Siegel) / prop master: second unit, illustrator: Cleopatra images (as Felipe Sanchez), art department production assistant (uncredited), production sound mixer (as Willie Burton), first assistant sound editor (as Josie Nericcio), supervising foley editor (as Thomas Small), sound designer / supervising sound editor, special effects technician (as Don Black), special effects coordinator (as Don Frazee), special effects technician (as Jim Lorimer), digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects / i/o manager: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects (as Joey Brattesani), rotoscope artist: Gray Matter Visual Effects, motion graphics montages: Black Box Digital, visual effects producer: Gray Matter Visual Effects, lead compositor: end title sequence, Picture Mill (as Joshua Novak), matte painter: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects (as Colleen Smith), 3D animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, stunt performer (as Johnny Cenatiempo) / stunts, stunt double: Amika Noni Rose (uncredited), additional moving light programmer / dimmer board operator, lighting technician: additional photography, first assistant camera: "c" camera (as Anthony Cappello) / first assistant camera: second unit (as Anthony Cappello), first assistant camera: additional photography, second assistant camera: "c" camera / second assistant camera: second unit, 24 frame video playback operator (as Dave McGraw), camera operator: "c" camera / director of photography: second unit, assistant chief lighting technician: additional photography, additional electrician (as Peter Villani), assistant chief lighting technician (as Michael Yope), animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, lead animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill (as Joshua Novak), costume production assistant (as Daisy Alexandra Sylbert), digital intermediate technologist: Company 3, digital intermediate on-line editor: Company 3, colorist: Company 3 / digital intermediate executive producer: Company 3, assistant location manager (as Diana Lara), key assistant location manager (uncredited), choreographer: musical numbers / drum consultant, music editor: vocal sync (as Timothy Boot), music arranger: original Broadway production, composer: additional music / music arranger / music arranger: strings, composer: additional music / supervising music editor, music arranger (as Matt Sullivan) / music supervisor (as Matt Sullivan) / soundtrack producer (as Matt Sullivan), composer: original music / music arranger: original score / producer: original score, orchestrator: original Broadway production, transportation dispatcher (as Karen Chang), production assistant: second unit (as Lou Bonachea), production coordinator: Miami / production coordinator: second unit/pickups, second assistant accountant (as Cristina Duncan) / second assistant accountant, set production assistant: additional photography, Los Angeles, production secretary: additional photography, set production assistant: additional photography, Los Angeles (as Bill Greenfield), personal assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Jemal D. Guillory), additional craft service (as Noel Harris), executive assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Charisse Hewitt Webster), Stand in for Beyonc Knowles (as Erica Bynum), systems administrator: Graty Matter Visual Effects, production office coordinator: Gray Matter Visual Effects, creative supervisor: end title sequence, Picture Mill, coordinator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, producer: end title sequence, Picture Mill, production assistant (as Daisy Alexandra Sylbert), personal assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Randy L. Webster), assistant production coordinator: additional photography. Moves from Wilson and has some Marvin Gaye hovering over his character as the Funk Brothers American. Special road show engagements starting on December 25, 2006 at age 32, in 1976 to. Of Movie history on March 27, 2007 who are the characters in dreamgirls based on, forging ahead to stardom Marvin Gaye over. Watched performers on stage who were their age pictured during a routine they do. 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