USA: "Dreamgirls" premieres in New York City amidst buzz about its good chances at the upcoming Oscars

"Dreamgirls", the silver screen adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, premiered in New York City on Monday (December 4), with the red carpet at the Ziegfeld theatre being dominated by the Oscar buzz that has already surrounded the film. Starring Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Hudson, among others, the film is about the rise of and struggles within a Motown band, "The Dreams", which in turn is loosely based on the famous 60's-70's female trio -- "The Supremes" led by legendary diva Diana Ross. R&B diva Beyonce Knowles plays the role of Deena Jones, which has been inspired in part by Ross. On the red carpet, Ross said that the film definitely had elements inspired from the story of "The Supremes" as well from the Motown era in general, but at the same time it wasn't an exact telling of Ross' life. Knowles, whose previous films include light-hearted fare like "The Pink Panther" and "Austin Powers in Goldmember", is hoping that with role of Deena, she will be taken more seriously as an actress. She worked for over six months on her role and lost weight for the latter half of the film. "The reason I wanted to do it was because, not to become more of a singer or a performer, but to be respected as an actor. It was all worth it, I lost twenty pounds which I would never have ben able to do that for myself. But I was kind of like in the zone, in the battle zone and I had the time of my life learning from all of my co-stars and my director, and watching Jennifer, and watching Jamie everyday was - it was incredible," said Knowles. Along with Knowles' character Deena, the other girls that form "The Dreamettes" (later renamed "The Dreams" in the film) are Lorrell Robinson played by Anika Noni Rose and Effie Melody White, portrayed by former "American Idol" competitor Jennifer Hudson. Later, White is replaced by Michelle Morris in the band, a role played by Sharon Leal. With the role of a soulful singer who is sidelined by the group's shrewd and ambitious manager Curtis Taylor (played by Jamie Foxx) in favour of the more beautiful Dina, Hudson gets prominent place in the film as well as several key songs. Hudson' soulful, powerful rendering of numbers like "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" in the film, has been getting a lot of praise, often more than Knowles' role. This had led to the speculation over whether there had been any friction between the actresses on the sets. Both Knowles and Hudson denied any friction between the three actresses, as did Rose. "We had the time of our life. I mean we were all nervous and excited together, this was almost like our first film. It was Jennifer's first movie, Anika's done movies but this was like her first film, along with myself. So, we were all learning together and helping each other out. It's just so unfortunate that people automatically assume women that we were bickering and it was negative but t was so positive and we all were in tears when it was over, because we knew that we would never live those experiences again," said Knowles. Hudson, who didn't fare too well on the show "American Idol" and had been shunted out before the finals, said that her rejection from the show was almost a parallel to her role as Effie in the film. "I was definitely inspired by my experience from American Idol because I feel like my character - well Effie and I - are stories parallel from my experiences at American Idol and her experience with the Dreams, and the hardest part for me was having to put both singing and acting together," said Hudson. Hudson as well as Eddie Murphy (who plays headliner James "Thunder" Early in the film) are both being considered by critics as possible nominees in the supporting actress and actor categories at the upcoming Oscars. "It's very flattering. It's very sweet," said Murphy of the Oscar buzz while Hudson said that she felt like the "luckiest girl in the world." The film directed by Bill Condon also stars actor Danny Glover. Glover said that he loved being a part of a film that recalled the Motown era, as well as the turbulent early 60s to mid-1970s when African Americans were still struggling for equal rights. Of the talented African American artists of that period, Glover said, "You imagine that this music that we all stand on, that the breadth of this music that everyone stands on was music that was derived from people who were persecuted, people who were terrorized, people who were never given their full worth, they created this beauty. Imagine what that is, imagine the nuggets that come out of that moment. This is what this is about." Other notables on the red carpet of "Dreamgirls" were actor Terrence Howard and singer and actress Queen Latifah. The film will open across North American in mid-December with a global release by the end of the year.

ITN Source | December 7, 2006

Tags:. .monday december. .terrence howard. .not going. .beyonce knowles. .danny glover