Dreamgirls Film

DREAMGIRLS (Film)
 
 
Dreamgirls  is a 2006 American romantic musical comedy-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 by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes.  The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, and also features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson.  With a production cost of $80 million, Dreamgirls is the most expensive film to feature an all African-American starring cast in American cinema history.  Upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews from critics, and earned $154 million at the international box office.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

In addition to Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heartthere are a host of Wilsons who have made popular music over the years.  The Beach Boys – “America’s band” according to no less than President Ronald Reagan (whose middle name is Wilson, come to think of it) – was founded in 1961 by Brian Wilson, his brothers Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson, and their cousin Mike LoveAl Jardine was the one original bandmember not in the family.  Another Nancy Wilson is a top-notch jazz vocalist who started in the 1960.’s and frequently crossed over to the R&B and rock charts.  Mary Wilson was one of the founding members of the Supremes; the story of the other bandmembers being eclipsed by lead singer Diana Ross formed the main storyline for the Broadway musical Dreamgirls that later made Jennifer Hudson a star in the film version, Dreamgirls.  Then there are R&B singers Jackie Wilson and Wilson Pickett, country star Gretchen Wilson, comedian and chef Justin Wilson, and many others. 

 

(November 2013)

 

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The saga of the Supremes formed much of the story line for the hit musical Dreamgirls.  The musical opened on Broadway in 1981 and won 6 Tony Awards.  Twenty-five years later, in 2006Dreamgirls was made into a popular film starring Jamie FoxxBeyoncé KnowlesEddie Murphy, and (fresh from finishing as a finalist on American IdolJennifer Hudson.  At $80 million, Dreamgirls is the most expensive film ever to feature an all–African-American starring cast.  

 

Dreamgirls created drama at the Oscars that year to match what was being portrayed on the screen.  Despite not being nominated for Best Director or Best Picture (or any nominations for Best Actor or Best Actress either, for that matter), Dreamgirls had the most Academy Award nominations in 2007 with eight – a first at the Academy Awards.  In a rare feat for an actor in a debut role, Jennifer Hudson was named Best Supporting Actress, but Eddie Murphy’s loss to Alan Arkin (for his role in the quirky and delightful comedy Little Miss Sunshine) as Best Supporting Actor was regarded as an upset.  Three of the songs from Dreamgirls were nominated for Best Song, but they also lost out to the Melissa Etheridge song “I Need to Wake Up” from the Al Gore documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth.  

 

It was a different story at the Golden Globes, where both Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy won in their categories, and Dreamgirls took the award for Best Picture – Comedy or MusicalBeyoncé Knowles was also nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.  

 

If you ask me, the insistence on having only one category of film or performer is a major flaw at the Academy Awards, and the recent decision to multiply the nominations for Best Picture to 10 or 12 only highlights the problem.  The Golden Globes is a more enjoyable television experience than the Oscars nearly every year; each Golden Globe actually means something, in contrast to the parade of technical awards that almost no one cares about that composes the middle two-thirds of the Academy Awards show. 

 

(April 2015/1)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021