[40] Several musical numbers from the Broadway score were not included in the film version, in particular Lorrell's solo "Ain't No Party". [27], Anika Noni Rose, a Broadway veteran and a Tony Award winner, won the part of Lorrell Robinson after an extensive auditioning process. Though Effie defiantly and desperately appeals to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams abandon her, forging ahead to stardom. [39] During post-production, composer Stephen Trask was contracted to provide additional score material for the film. Later that night, Hudson won the BET Award for Best Actress. [93][94] A later scene features Curtis and the Dreams recording in the studio, while a riot rages outside. The film won the awards for Best Picture Comedy or Musical, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. Community actress Yvette Nicole Brown was also in the running for the role but was eventually cast as the legal secretary to Foxxs character. Furthermore, Dreamgirls was nominated for eleven 2007 International Press Academy Satellite Awards, and won four of the awards: Best Picture Comedy or Musical, Best Director (Bill Condon), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jennifer Hudson), and Best Sound (Mixing & Editing). 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. [97] In a snapshot, Ed Sullivan appears presenting the real Supremes on his show. Yet before girl groups, it was easier for a song to cross over than for artists themselves to do, says Warwick. ", 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". But in Motown, Berry Gordy knew he could achieve both the musical and social aspect of crossover with well-groomed, sweet young girls. [86][87], To give the story more exposure for the upcoming film release, DreamWorks and the licenser of the original play, The Tams-Witmark Music Library, announced that they would pay the licensing fees for all non-professional stage performances of Dreamgirls for the calendar year of 2006. "There are girl group songs that are based on blues progressions But there's also some that sound more like Tin Pan Alley songsalmost like Broadway numbers.". [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. Character description, analysis and casting breakdown for Effie White from Dreamgirls. Among the more direct references are the uses of adapted Supremes album cover designs for albums recorded in the film by the Dreams. 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. Lorrell Robinson. In one scene, Effie saunters into Curtis' office and discusses Rainbow Records' latest LP, The Great March to Freedom, a spoken word album featuring speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. harder for the industries that marginalise them". In the 1950s and 1960s, the R&B (Rhythm and Blues) charts were "black" charts and the pop charts were "white." InWomen of Motown, The Marvelettes' Schaffner says, "I loved going on the road. But Krieger has said the songs "are nowhere close to the Motown sound." Who was the main character in Dreamgirls based on? Jared Gilman ( Paterson) and Kara Hayward ( Manchester by the Sea) play Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop in Wes Anderson 's ( The Grand Budapest Hotel) 2012 coming-of-age film Moonrise Kingdom. The Effie White character from the Broadway play (and film) "Dreamgirls" is loosely based on Ballard. He cited a need to preserve the integrity of Dreamgirls stage director Michael Bennett's work after his death in 1987. [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. Postman." The Supremes were three girls -- Ross, Ballard and Mary Wilson -- who grew up in the projects and originally called themselves the Primettes. 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. Advertising Notice The British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave the film awards for Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Music (Henry Krieger). [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. [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. The film, and the original Broadway musical, are based heavily on The Supremes (later known as "Diana Ross & The Supremes"). The success of girl groups had much to do with the market. That isn't to say teenagers weren't also listening to the original Little Richard. [citation needed]. "Creative License or 'Sour Grapes'? leaves Los Angeles and reconciles with Effie in Detroit. Coker, Cheo Hodari (2007). Screenwriter and director Bill Condon, who wrote Chicago's screenplay, met producer Laurence Mark at a Hollywood holiday party in late 2002, where the two discussed a long-held "dream project" of Condon's adapting Dreamgirls for the screen. Jennifer Kate Hudson was born on September 12, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois to Darnell Donerson (ne Hudson) & Samuel Simpson. When they announced that, Gladys asked why don't we go ahead and be a part of the talent show. [84] The Dreamgirls soundtrack was also nominated for the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album. Outside Motown, The Shangri-Las were singing songs about good girls loving bad boys, such as "Leader of the Pack." Three Supremes albums Let the Sunshine In, Cream of the Crop, and Touch were reworked into Deena Jones & The Dreams album designs, with the only differences in the designs being the substitution of the names and images of the Supremes with those of Deena Jones & the Dreams. [104] Gordy issued a statement shortly afterwards expressing his acceptance of the apology. [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. Based on the Broadway musical, a trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960's. 216,688 people like this. That same year, Motown got its first pop hit with The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. [22] Rose, significantly shorter than most of her co-stars at five feet and two inches (157cm), was required to wear (and dance in) four and five-inch (127mm) heels for much of the picture, which she later stated caused her discomfort. Unbeknownst to them Effie is pregnant with Curtis's child, but she doesn't say anything. [55] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, Dreamgirls is a film clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, the Supremes. (Black Public Relations Wire) ", Christian, Margena A (Dec. 7, 2006). But because of our performance, one of our teacherswhen it came time to audition for Motownbecause that was a part of what your winnings would be, to audition for Motownshe recommended that they take the top five. The Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture soundtrack album was released on December 5 by Music World Entertainment/Columbia Records, in both a single-disc version containing highlights and a double-disc "Deluxe Version" containing all of the film's songs. Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C. With three Golden Globe awards and eight Academy Award nominations, Dreamgirls has renewed interest in the girl groups of the 1960s as well as Motown Records, the Detroit-based company that became one of the most influential labels of the time. [83] At the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony, "Love You I Do" won the award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The DVD version was issued in two editions: a one-disc standard version and a two-disc "Showstopper Edition". The site's critics consensus states: "Dreamgirls' simple characters and plot hardly detract from the movie's real feats: the electrifying performances and the dazzling musical numbers. | How many of these performances do you remember? "The most surprised was Motown. "[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. Certainly whites (particularly young people) had been listening to black music before girl groups came on the scene, and black artists had made the pop charts before. [80] It was also named as one of the American Film Institute's top ten films of 2006. "We were all surprised when 'Postman' hit so big," she says. This bright, beautiful and booming-voiced talent is a perfect example of how NOT winning the title of American Idol . Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. 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. Aside from the overall plot of the film and elements already present in the stage musical, many direct references to The Supremes, Motown, or R&B/soul history in general are included in the film. Although loosely based on The Supremes, the movie is a work of fiction. 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