Oct 10 2007
Dreamgirls, Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce, Anika Rose

Dreamgirls Got The Five Heartbeats Treatment: Lookin’ Better From the Back

There is word leaking out of Paramount-Dreamworks studios talking about the way Dreamgirls was marketed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. When deciding on how the movie poster should look, it was decided it was best NOT to show the faces of Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson or Anika Rose - show the back of their heads, keep em’ in the shadows. You know the shot..

Dreamgirls poster

The thinking was that having their smiling faces out front would make the movie too black for a white audience. Remember the scene in The Five Heartbeats when they grabbed their new album cover and there weren’t any black faces on it - to appeal to a whiter/wider audience. It’s the same kind of tweaking.

Ted Casablanca’s Awful Truth source added, by the time the DVD release was being prepared, the pendulum had swung the other way: Jennifer Hudson was polishing her Oscar, Beyonce had become an even bigger celebrity, and Anika Rose, well..  she’s still Anika (in the background but an acknowledged talent). So now the studio wanted them in clear sight.

Dreamgirls poster

The creative department must have worked in a locked room, because the DVD cover got this shocked response from the head mucky mucks.. “It looks like an ad for Harlem Nights!”

I’ve got to admit, when I first saw it in stores I thought, “Why are they making it look like Sparkle?”

Dreamgirls poster

No word on what happened after that, but it’s notable that the DVD, free of extras and bonus materials, got the ‘Harlem Nights’ look, while the double disc, stocked with goodies, sports the original artwork.

A Dreamworks PR rep has denied this ‘snitch’ is telling the truth.

She gave this quote to soothe any bruised emotions, [The poster] was a shot from the film, we all loved it. And we had no consideration of race >> you can quote me.”


☼ What's Your Opinion? ☼

1 O.P. Thu, Oct 11, 2007 - 7:54 pm

It’s so embarrassing that the United States is STILL, in 2007, the most racist country in the entire world!

We appear to be the most ignorant and have elements in our country who try to influrence other countries to be the same.

Black American music is our most important export and people all over the world emulate black music more than anything created by white Americans, while America tries it’s best to put a white face on anything black.  Ever heard of Elvis Presley?

2 K.C. Wed, Oct 24, 2007 - 2:36 am

A movie about black artists compromising their music for white audiences compromises its promo art for white audiences.

Art imitates life once again.

Oh, and the one disc DVD cover is _ugly_. No other word for it. And the pic on the “Sparkle” DVD cover was, ironically, altered to make the dresses blue instead of red so that Irene Cara an’ ‘nem looked more like - you guessed it - the Dreams. Even the synopsis on the back of the “Sparkle” DVD is incorrect, more akin to the “Dreamgirls” plot than what actually happens in “Sparkle”.

That scene from “The Five Heartbeats” is a reference to the Isley Brothers’ 1966 Tamla/Motown album “This Old Heart of Mine”, which had a white couple in love on the cover instead of Ron Isley and his two siblings.

3 Salome Thu, Oct 25, 2012 - 1:50 am

Ok we’ve all had a break since the end of last season, and sneieg some of us were talking about bloodbowl the other day it’s time i put down my two pence worth.I would like to see the use of the special play cards.Is anybody up for a game or two next friday night? I was thinking of just using a one off team just to use one or two new rules to see if they are any good.Though it doesn’t mean anybody else has to use a new team, it just means no xp will be given or there will be any deaths for that matter []

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