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Starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover and Eddie Murphy, a movie based on the Broadway hit musical.

Twenty-five years after first bringing Broadway audiences to their feet, the Tony Award-winning musical sensation Dreamgirls comes to the big screen, under the direction of Bill Condon.

The feature film version of Dreamgirls brings together an ensemble of award-winning stars from the worlds of film, Broadway, television, and the recording industry, including Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx (Ray, Miami Vice), recording superstar and actress Beyoncé Knowles (The Pink Panther) and box office favourite Eddie Murphy (The Nutty Professor, Dr. Doolittle). The film also introduces American Idol talent show finalist Jennifer Hudson, making her feature film debut. Rounding out the main cast are veteran actor Danny Glover (the Lethal Weapon series, Predator 2), Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose (Broadway’s Caroline, or Change), Keith Robinson (Fat Albert), Sharon Leal (TV’s Boston Public), and three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle (Miss Saigon, The Tap Dance Kid, The Wiz).

Set in the turbulent early 1960s to mid-70s, Dreamgirls follows the rise of a trio of women - Effie (Jennifer Hudson), Deena – played by Destiny’s Child member and now solo performer Beyoncé Knowles – (The Fighting Temptations, Goldmember) and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose) - who have formed a promising singing group called ‘The Dreamettes’.

At a talent competition, The Dreamettes are discovered by an ambitious manager named Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), who offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to become the back-up singers for headliner James ‘Thunder’ Early – played by Eddie Murphy (the Beverly Hills Cop film series, Coming To America). Curtis gradually takes control of the girls’ look and sound, eventually giving them their own shot in the spotlight as ‘The Dreams’. That spotlight, however, begins to narrow in on Deena, finally pushing the less attractive Effie out altogether. Though The Dreams become a crossover phenomenon, they soon realise that the cost of fame and fortune may be higher than they ever imagined...

“Even before the cameras started rolling, Condon and his cast were busy rehearsing the unforgettable musical numbers that made Dreamgirls one of the most successful stage musicals of all time, together with some new songs that have been written specifically for the big-screen adaptation. Putting the cast through their paces for the feature film was Fatima Robinson, the choreographer behind some of the hottest music videos, films and live concerts in the industry today.

Opening Night

“I was actually in the audience on opening night, and it was one of those experiences you never forget,” Bill Condon remembers. “The original Broadway production of Dreamgirls was thrilling, with a brilliant cast and legendary staging by Michael Bennett. With the passage of time, I think it’s possible to take a fresh look at this material. The story of the crossover success of African American music during the 1960’s has a particular relevance today, when black culture almost defines the mainstream.”

Producer Laurence Mark says, “I saw Michael Bennett’s production of Dreamgirls on Broadway shortly after it opened, and it was an extraordinary, unforgettable experience. We’re hoping that the film honours the stage show while, at the same time, appropriately reinterprets it for the screen. The look of that show and the music of that show have stayed with me all these years—and so have its key themes, which seem to resonate even more strongly today.”

Dreamgirls is directed by Bill Condon - from a screenplay he adapted from the stage musical’s original book by Tom Eyen. An Academy Award winner for his screenplay for the feature Gods and Monsters, which he also directed, Condon received another Oscar nomination for his screenplay adaptation of Chicago. Academy Award-nominated producer Laurence Mark (Jerry Maguire, As Good As It Gets, I, Robot) has produced Dreamgirls, with Patricia Whitcher (Memoirs of a Geisha, The Terminal) executive producing. The lyrics are by Tom Eyen, with music by Henry Krieger.

Behind The Lens

Behind the camera, Condon collaborated with several acclaimed artists to bring the world of Dreamgirls to the big screen. Production designer John Myhre, who just earned his third Oscar nomination for his work on Memoirs of a Geisha, is re-creating the urban landscape of the 1960s and 70s for the film. Myhre previously won an Academy Award for Chicago and also garnered an Oscar nomination for Elizabeth. Costume designer Sharen Davis, who was honoured with an Oscar nomination for her work on the hit biopic Ray, is designing the wide-ranging costumes for Dreamgirls.

Jack Foley on indielondon.co.uk says of the film: "...like many stage-to-screen adaptations, it struggles to make the leap. What worked wonders on Broadway, strikes a duff note at the multiplex. The sheer number of songs, for instance, will disappoint as many viewers as it impresses, while the blurred line between truth and fiction also misleads."

While Larushka Ivan-Zadeh - writing in Metro newspaper (dated 2 February 2007) praises Jennifer Hudson's performance but seems less than impressed with the films' focus on Beyoncé Knowles. She writes: "...American Idol loser Hudson belts out her tear-tsained showstoppers like a Hurrican Aretha; it's a real star turn. But the plot fatally - and bizarrely - contorts the spotlight back on to Beyoncé's bland Barbie doll."

The creative team also includes director of photography Tobias Schliessler (Friday Night Lights); editor Virginia Katz, who previously worked with Condon-on Kinsey and Gods and Monsters; casting director Debra Zane (War of the Worlds); and Tony Award-winning lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (The Producers, Chicago). The music supervisors who worked on the film were Randy Spendlove (Chicago, The Aviator) and Matt Sullivan (Rent, Chicago), with Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas, AKA 'The Underdogs', serving as music producers.

Principal photography took place at the historic Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Filming on Dreamgirls and at Los Angeles’ Centre Studios, as well as on locations in and around Los Angeles.

Award Winning

The film has so far gained five Golden Globe nominations - and won three - for ‘Best Picture’, 'Best Supporting Actor' (Eddie Murphy) and 'Best Supporting Actress' (for Jennifer Hudson). It's also gained two BAFTA nominations - including 'Best Actress in a
Supporting Role' for Jennifer Hudson and no less than eight Academy Awrd nominations - including 'Best Supporting Actor' for Eddie Murphy and 'Best Supporting Actress' again for Jennifer Hudson.

For more information and to view the trailer open this link to the official Dreamgirls website.

Follow this link to view an exclusive 'Making Of' featurette for Dreamgirls.

A co-production of DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, Dreamgirls opened in the US in December of 2006 - 25 years to the day after its Broadway bow. Dreamgirls is in British cinemas now, certifcate 12A.

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