You could almost see her snap her fingers back and forth through the air with “Independent Woman” assurance.
“I’m already a star. I have my nine Grammys. I know I can sing,” Beyonce Knowles declares, sounding more than a little rehearsed as the national opening of the highly anticipated “Dreamgirls”approaches, opening in theaters on Christmas day. A bootylicious maxster of spinning her own image during recent interviews for the film in New York City, she is carefully — and a tad defensively — navigating the central brouhaha emerging around the musical’s release.
To wit: What happens when the pudgy unknown supporting actress steals all the thunder away from the multimillionaire superstar stage goddess? Answer: Major coordinated damage control.
The established one-namer Beyonce took the meeker leading lady role of Deena in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the 1981 Broadway sensation about a Supremes-ish singing group in the 1960s and ‘70s. Meanwhile, “American Idol” reject Jennifer Hudson landed the role of the down-and-out force of nature Effie, who gets kicked to the curb with one of the greatest Act 1 finale numbers in history, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Leaving.”
The young divas, both 25, are denying the catfight rumors strongly — including published reports that Knowles’ father/manager has tried to manipulate the movie’s publicity campaign to hype the pop mega-celebrity and downplay Hudson’s triumph.
Knowles chalks up the fuss to the way the part of Effie was originally conceived.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. Even kids who don’t know anything about ‘Dreamgirls’ know about the Effie role and her big song. Jennifer Holliday got a standing ovation every time she sang it,” she says, referring to Broadway’s illustrious original Effie. “Jennifer Hudson had the pressure of never being in a film and never doing an album and she had to live up to those expectations. I wish I could have gained 20 pounds and played Effie.”
Ouch. With ladylike, surgical precision, Knowles almost just called Hudson a fat nobody!
She continued: “I absolutely would have done the Effie role. But our director Bill Condon didn’t even believe I could do Deena. I knew the character I was playing wasn’t the star. She wasn’t the underdog like Effie, with all the pain and dramatic scenes. But I wanted people to know I could act. These rumors of a rivalry between me and Jennifer hurt my heart. It’s so cliche. No one is saying Eddie Murphy is mad at Jamie Foxx from the movie. They say I’m mad. It’s ridiculous.
“Because I’m a star, they automatically assume I’m not humble enough to take a back seat. They did the same rumors with Destiny’s Child saying that we were fighting. But we all love each other.”
Even if Beyonce secretly does want to send Hudson out “to the left, to the left” — as in the lyrics of one of her latest hits — the newcomer Hudson seems to affirm the party line when asked about the rivalry, saying “Beyonce and I are still in the same support of each other as we have been all along.”
Whatever that means.
Beyonce filmography
» “The Pink Panther” (2006)
» “The Fighting Temptations” (2003)
» “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002)
