The Season: 'Dreamgirls' delivers...Oscar talk across the board after Wednesday screenings
By Pete Hammond
It was a week Clint Eastwood took another shot in the Oscar race with the announcement that “Letters From Iwo Jima,” his Japanese-language companion film to “Flags Of Our Fathers,” would be released in LA and NY this year after all (moved up from Feb 9th to Dec 20th) giving the contest a last minute entry and posing some interesting new questions. It was also a week where the cast of “Little Children” blew into town for a press reception, guild Q&As and TV appearances to jumpstart awards attention. And films such as “Blood Diamond,” “Miss Potter,” “Children Of Men” and “We Are Marshall” started screening for press while reps for Robert DeNiro’s long awaited “The Good Shepherd” announced it wouldn’t be doing the same until December 4th, just moments before key critics groups start voting.
And then there was “Dreamgirls.”
DreamWorks and Paramount pulled out all the stops Wednesday with a nationwide debut of the presumptive Best Picture front runner. Every market around the country where the film will be playing got a simultaneous screening including Los Angeles where writer/director Bill Condon introduced the film to a wildly enthusiastic audience at the Motion Picture Academy, a crowd that seemed filled with a lot of press, bloggers, scattered Oscar voters, many publicists and half of West Hollywood. The 8pm start time was preceded by a cocktail reception and followed by a post-party. Basically it was a premiere without stars (the “official” LA premiere is December 11th).
After months of pre-hype including a massive press set visit last winter, a major launch in Cannes followed by another bi-coastal press preview with live performance by the film’s Effie, Jennifer Hudson, there was the kind of heightened anticipation and electricity rarely seen at a screening. Do you think anyone is gonna get this jacked up about “Rocky Balboa”??? It was almost like an election headquarters in the lobby with DreamWorks’ marketing maven Terry Press enthusiastically sharing Blackberry reports with Condon on early reaction from other cities.
The eagerness in the room could perhaps be the sense of a turnaround about to happen, with general feelings that this awards year has been a bummer so far, the result of only one or two films really popping and studios cutting way back on ads. One senior editor for Variety said, “It’s such a dead Oscar season, this is the last great hope.” In truth, ad reps for both major trades were heard around town this week bemoaning the fact that campaigning is way down compared to years past and studios are cutting back their orders as each new contender opens and tanks. An awards consultant for a major with several hopefuls said, with the exception of one big Christmas release, they had virtually slashed their campaign budget for the rest of their slate.
A lot of hope was riding therefore on Condon, an Oscar winning writer who also wrote the screenplay for the last musical to win Best Picture, “Chicago,” and who directed indies “Gods And Monsters” and “Kinsey.” He announced that they had just wrapped the film on Sunday (when it was shown to Golden Globe voters) and after 11 months of non-stop work here was the result. The curtain parted and the crowd seemed to be with it all the way from opening logo to final credits when many stood up and cheered. Best Picture talk was rampant afterwards with the consensus being the film didn’t disappoint.
Biggest applause was reserved for newcomer Jennifer Hudson, a former “American Idol” contestant who won the plum role that earned another Jennifer (Holliday) a Best Actress Tony. In a cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Beyonce and Eddie Murphy she clearly steals the show winning a hefty ovation for the signature song, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” a number that ends with her alone, beautifully lit against a black background belting out a showstopper that recalls Streisand’s powerful “My Man” finale in “Funny Girl.” And we all know where THAT led. Inevitable Oscar talk afterwards in the lobby included speculation that Hudson is so strong she could even take on Helen Mirren for Best Actress even though studio publicists are quick to point out they are going for Supporting.
Condon told us he firmly believes that the only true lead in the film is Jamie Foxx. He says that is the way the script was structured and that everyone else is really just supporting him. It’s an effective argument. Of course in the end it’s up to Oscar voters to place actors wherever they want (with strong hints from studio ads) which in the case of a performance on the cusp can split votes. The HFPA also determines which category an actor is placed in, so we’ll see if the supporting strategy sticks. In terms of pure screen minutes, however, Foxx is way out in front of both Beyonce and Hudson who are both off screen for large chunks of time.
In addition to the picture and Hudson, “Dreamgirls” looks like a contender in supporting actor (Murphy and Danny Glover), directing, writing, costumes, art direction, cinematography, sound, editing and song (4 new tunes were co-written by original composer Henry Krieger who was in the audience).
This unprecendented screening gambit is just one of a number of attention-getters planned for the weeks ahead including the recently announced Reserved Seat Roadshow run Dec 15 – 25 at $25 a pop in select cities. The entire cast shows up on a pre-taped Oprah next Monday, while Academy voter Oprah phones Hudson to rave about her on today’s show and has already invited her back for ANOTHER appearance in December.
THE SEASON is just heating up for the holidays with Par/DreamWorks clearly giving THANKS for their “Dreamgirls”.
