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Movie "Dreamgirls" casts spell over Cannes audience

Posted on: Saturday, 20 May 2006, 05:16 CDT

By Bob Tourtellotte

CANNES, France (Reuters) - "The DaVinci Code" may have fizzled with critics at Cannes, but the second major Hollywood movie to sweep into the festival, "Dreamgirls," cast a spell over audiences that led to early Oscar buzz.

Movie studios Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks showed 20 minutes of their film, which is set for a December release, to a standing room only crowd late Friday night at a side venue at the world's largest gathering of movie makers and stars.

U.S. pop singer Beyonce Knowles and Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, who star in "Dreamgirls," were on hand, as were major celebrities like Bruce Willis, Hugh Jackman and Britain's Sir Ian McKellen.

Shouts of "more" echoed in the room following the brief four scenes that were shown and when Foxx addressed the crowd, Oscar whispers filled the room.

"They talk about the Oscar curse. I don't feel it right now," Foxx said to rousing applause.

The Oscars are the film industry's top honors given out each year by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Foxx won the best actor honor for playing singer Ray Charles in 2004's "Ray," and as he noted it is rare for an actor to win a second Academy Award.

"Dreamgirls" is based on the hit Broadway show about three black American singers and their manager who rise to stardom in 1960s. The story has reminded audiences of singers like Diana Ross and The Supremes, but "Dreamgirls" is a fictional movie.

Knowles plays the trio's lead singer, and Foxx is their manager. Newcomers Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson, who won fame on U.S. talent show "American Idol," round out the group.

"It's a dream come true," Hudson said of her Cannes debut.

"Dreamgirls" will not be seen by audiences until this coming holiday season when Hollywood traditionally rolls out its big-budget titles to compete for Oscars, and its producer Lawrence Mark acknowledged it has a long way to go before it can win the hearts of global audiences and Oscar voters.

First, it is not even finished. Moreover, last year musicals "Rent" and "The Producers," went into Oscar season widely hyped then fizzled with critics -- as did "Da Vinci" here at Cannes.

But Mark seemed fearless on Friday with the movie he now has on hand.

"We wanted to put it in front of audiences, give them a taste of it and say, 'Here's what we have cooking, kids,"' he said.

Source: REUTERS

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