Dream Girl Movie Full Movie
Kanisha Dezarn
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. 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 its superstar act, The Supremes.[5] 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.
The film adaptation features an ensemble cast, starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonc Knowles and Eddie Murphy with Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson in supporting roles. In addition to the original compositions by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Tom Eyen, four new songs, composed by Krieger with various lyricists, were added for the film.[6] The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant.[5]
In 1960s Detroit, 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. Presenting himself as their new manager, he recruits them as backup singers for Chitlin' Circuit R&B star Jimmy "Thunder" Early.
Curtis soon starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, out of his Cadillac dealership, appointing Effie's brother C.C. head songwriter. 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. Offstage, Effie falls in love with Curtis while the married Jimmy does likewise with Lorrell.
Jimmy's manager, Marty Madison, grows weary of Curtis' plans to make his client more pop-friendly and walks out. When Jimmy bombs in front of an all-white Miami Beach supper club audience, Curtis sends him out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. He appoints the slimmer, more conventionally attractive Deena as the new lead singer, renaming them "The Dreams". He feels Effie's plus size figure and distinctive, soulful voice will not attract white audiences as Deena's voice, although more basic and generic, is more marketable.
Aided by new songs and a new image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. By 1965, however, Effie begins acting out, particularly when Curtis' affections also turn towards Deena. He eventually drops Effie, hiring his secretary Michelle Morris to replace her beginning with their 1966 New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams." Though Effie defiantly and desperately appeals to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams abandon her, forging ahead to stardom. Effie learns she is pregnant with Curtis's child, but says nothing.
By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. To restart her music career, she hires Marty as her manager and begins performing at a local club. Meanwhile, Deena Jones & the Dreams have become superstars and Rainbow has moved to Los Angeles and become the biggest pop label in the country. Curtis marries Deena and pitches a film about Cleopatra to star her. However, Deena clandestinely hopes the film will never come to be, pursuing other acting gigs.
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. During a televised special of Rainbow's tenth anniversary, Jimmy strays off from his soulful act to do an impromptu rap. This is a hit with the audience until Jimmy goes too far and drops his pants. Embarrassed, Curtis promptly drops him from the label and Lorrell ends their affair. Sometime later, C.C., who feels Curtis is undermining his songs' artistic merit by making them into disco music, quits the label. Jimmy dies from a heroin overdose, devastating Lorell, who is not allowed at his funeral.
Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C. leaves Los Angeles and reconciles with Effie in Detroit. He writes and produces a comeback single for her, "One Night Only". Just as it's gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song. The plan falls apart, however, as Deena, increasingly angry over how Curtis controls her career, discovers his schemes and contacts Effie, who arrives in Los Angeles with C.C., Marty, and a lawyer.
Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie telling her that Curtis is Magic's father. Curtis begrudgingly agrees to nationally distribute Effie's record to avoid being reported to the FBI. Inspired by Effie's victory and seeing Curtis for who he truly is, Deena leaves him, vowing to start over like Effie did.
In the 1980s and 1990s, several attempts were made to produce a film adaptation of Dreamgirls, a Broadway musical loosely based upon the story of The Supremes and Motown Records, which won six Tony Awards in 1982. David Geffen, the stage musical's co-financier, retained the film rights to Dreamgirls and turned down many offers to adapt the story for the screen. He cited a need to preserve the integrity of Dreamgirls stage director Michael Bennett's work after his death in 1987.[15] 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. The production ran into problems when Houston wanted to sing both Deena and Effie's songs (particularly "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"), and the film was eventually abandoned.[16]
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[6] in the late 1990s, following the success of Touchstone Pictures's Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. Schumacher planned to have Lauryn Hill[17] portray Deena and Kelly Price play Effie. After Warner's Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love failed at the box office, the studio shut down development on Dreamgirls.[16]
Warner Bros. had retained the film rights to Dreamgirls, and agreed to co-produce with DreamWorks. However, after casting was completed, the film was budgeted at $73 million and Warner backed out of the production. Geffen, taking the role of co-producer, brought Paramount Pictures in to co-finance and release Dreamgirls. During the course of production, Paramount's parent company, Viacom, would purchase DreamWorks, aligning the two studios under one umbrella (and giving the senior studio US distribution rights on behalf of DreamWorks).[15] 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.[3]
Mark and Condon began pre-production with the intentions of casting Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, both actors with record industry experience, as Curtis Taylor Jr. and James "Thunder" Early, respectively.[18] When offered the part of Curtis, Foxx initially declined because DreamWorks could not meet his salary demands.[18] Denzel Washington, Will Smith, and Terrence Howard were among the other actors also approached to play Curtis.[20] Murphy, on the other hand, accepted the role of Jimmy Early after being convinced to do so by DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg.[15]
While Condon had intended to cast relatively unknown actresses as all three Dreams,[12] R&B singer Beyonc Knowles lobbied for the part of Deena Jones,[21] and was cast after a successful screen test.[15] Upon learning that Knowles and Murphy had signed on, Foxx rethought his original decision and accepted the Curtis role at DreamWorks' lower salary.[22]
R&B star Usher was to have been cast as C.C. White,[23] but contract negotiations failed; Usher was unable to dedicate half a year to the project. Andr 3000 of Outkast was also offered the role, but declined.[24] After briefly considering R&B singer Omarion,[25] singer/actor Keith Robinson was eventually cast in the role.[26]
Anika Noni Rose, a Broadway veteran and a Tony Award winner, won the part of Lorrell Robinson after an extensive auditioning process.[21] Rose, significantly shorter than most of her co-stars at five feet and two inches (157 cm), was required to wear (and dance in) four and five-inch (127 mm) heels for much of the picture, which she later stated caused her discomfort.[22]
The most crucial casting decision involved the role of Effie White, the emotional center of the story.[21] The filmmakers insisted on casting a relative unknown in the role, paralleling the casting of then-21-year-old Jennifer Holliday in that role for the original Broadway production.[21] 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. Community actress Yvette Nicole Brown was also in the running for the role but was eventually cast as the legal secretary to Foxx's character.[27] Though Barrino emerged as an early frontrunner for the part,[28] Hudson was eventually selected to play Effie, leading Barrino to telephone Hudson and jokingly complain that Hudson "stole [Barrino's] part."[29][30][31]
Hudson was required to gain twenty pounds for the role,[32] which marked her debut film performance. 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."[33]
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