2006CELEBRITIES
HRN-828
Dreamgirls – Bill Condon
Dreamgirls – Bill Condon
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| 11:26:30 7.63 |
I guess what was the hardest scene people keep asking. (talks) I think the thing was there was a scene that happens in the middle of the movie when Effie’s character, played by Jennifer Hudson was thrown out of the group and everyone else sort of descends on her in this long musical argument ending with her being alone on stage with Jamie Foxx, playing Curtis Taylor and she pours out her heart to him, begging him to let her stay. And that whole sequence together, shot in the last week. Was probably the most challenging. That is why we left it till the end.
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| 11:27:10 47.63 |
From everyone really. It is that emotional climax of that first part of that story. It is very elaborate. It had to be a very elaborate design and staging. Lots of mirrors, figuring out the camera took a lot time. And we just wanted to make sure everyone was so completely immersed in their character at that point.
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| 11:27:31 68.63 |
I saw Dreamgirls on opening night in 1981 with a group of friends, I was sitting in the back row and I was blown away by it. So, it had the most brilliant staging by Michael Bennett. Incredible cast, of course Jennifer Holiday, who was, you know, what can you say about her, her performance was legendary on opening night. And this amazing score.
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| 11:28:05 102.63 |
I think we knew, because Effie starts as a teenage, we knew that it would probably be somebody that was a relative unknown because there are not that many women that have had that opportunity to do this and we saw many hundreds of people and then it came down to a dozen or so that we actually tested and Jennifer emerged as somebody that had all the qualities to play this part.
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| 11:28:38 135.63 |
Yeah, you know it is so weird to have someone that has that kind of voice and also has such an incredible acting ability. You know she is just so in touch. Her voice, you know she hasn’t’ had any vocal training. She hasn’t had any acting training she is just so truthful, and so open and you know the camera doesn’t lie and the camera just sort of discovers that about somebody. She just is sort of a natural phenomenon.
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| 11:29:05 162.63 |
Yes, it was not as difficult as you think. Because everyone felt that Dreamgirls was an important project and something that was, that thye wanted to be a part of. So we started with Jamie, Eddie and Beyonce, all the first choices and then sort of spread out from there.
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| 11:29:32 189.63 |
Yeah, there is no question that there is inspiration there. It is not the literal Diana Ross story, she and I are both huge fans of Diana Ross so we certainly did turn, in terms of images and things like that, we looked at a lot of Diana Ross stuff as we were prepping the movie.
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| 11:30:01 219.63 |
I think the most important thing that in a movie you can’t just stop and sing a song or do a dance. I think it is important that everyone, you know, should follow a story through a song. You feel the forward movement. It’s a movie. You don’t want to…I think I made my point.
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| 11:30:31 249.63 |
Yes, definitely. It is a fictional version of the Motown phenomenon. No question. That changed the world in the 1960s. Huge barriers that were broken through. In our case it is a fictional character, Curtis Taylor Jr. that does that. And it takes some pretty kind of intense behind the scenes tactics to make that happen.
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| 11:31:14 292.63 |
A twenty-fifth anniversary special, it was amazing. In 1983, absolutely. (talks) The show did, right. But we do reference that a little bit in the film. Things that happened since the show opened.
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| 11:31:32 310.63 |
Yes, yes, definitely. I was a huge fan of the whole Motown sound for the longest time.
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| 11:31:43 321.63 |
Yes, Mary Wilson just saw the movie and said she was crazy about it. Very exciting.
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