Jamie Foxx Interview, DreamGirls

MoviesOnline recently caught up with Jamie Foxx at the New York City press day for his new film, "Dreamgirls,” the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning Broadway phenomenon that has now come to life as an all-new motion picture adaptation written and directed by Academy Award winner Bill Condon. "Dreamgirls” is a compelling story of love and loyalty, fame and betrayal that tracks the struggle, sacrifices and triumphs of a group of outsiders carrying their landmark sound into mainstream America in the 1960s and ‘70s during a period of vast social and political change.

The setting is the Motor City, where African-American music is on the verge of breaking down the doors of the American music scene. In 1960s Detroit, a goodnight onstage can get you noticed but it won’t get your song played on the radio. Here, a new kind of music is on the cusp of being born -- a sound with roots buried deep in the soul of Detroit itself, where songs are about more than what’s on the surface, and everyone is bound together by a shared dream. The story finds one man trying to break in at that precise moment.

Jamie Foxx, who won the Academy Award for his phenomenal portrayal of Ray Charles in "Ray,” in addition to being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral,” delivers another impressive performance as Curtis Taylor, Jr., a hungry young businessman who sells Cadillacs as a springboard to a bright future he feels destined for. "Curtis is a rough-edged kind of guy who is trying to get into the music business,” says Foxx. "He just wishes that he could have sung better, could have written better music, could have played some type of instrument, but he can’t. So, he does what he can to get to the top by managing talent. I think that comes with a curse for him – on some level, he wishes it was him out there. He’s working every angle until he finds an opening.”

Curtis is aching to make his mark in the music business – to form his own record label and get its sound heard on mainstream radio at a time when civil rights are still only a whisper in the streets. He just needs the angle, the right talent, the right product to sell. Late for their stint in a local talent show, The Dreamettes – Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles), Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), and lead singer Effie White (Jennifer Hudson) – show up in their cheap wigs and homemade dresses, rehearsing songs and steps by Effie’s brother, C.C. (Keith Robinson), with hopes that talent and sheer desire will break them out of the only life that seems available to them. They’re young. They’re beautiful. They’re just what Curtis is looking for.

With "girl groups” sprouting up from gospel choirs across the country, talent night at the local club proves to be a goldmine. "Curtis is everywhere, putting things together,” says Condon. He finds his vehicle when he sets his eyes on The Dreamettes. "They are three hungry, excited, anxious, naive girls,” says Beyonce Knowles. The Platinum-selling musical artist stars as Deena Jones, a role she was told at the tender age of 16 that she was born to play. "It’s so exiting for them to be there because they want this so bad. They want to be in the music industry. Their futures are entirely in front of them, and they think they’ve got what it takes to make it. When Curtis sees them, he sees all that potential.”

Jamie Foxx is a terrific person and a sensational artist and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what the always ultra suave, impeccably dressed Foxx had to tell us about his latest role that was modeled after music impresario Berry Gordy, what it means to be ‘hot,’ and what it was like working with Eddie Murphy:

Q: Was this a difficult film for you to say yes to or easy?

Foxx: It was easy once you see everyone that was involved. At first it started out just as an idea and I was like 'Man, I am with it!' and my agent was like 'Wait a minute, too fast, we don't know what is going on.' So I waited then they said Eddie Murphy was involved, and I said 'Oh, I got to be in that, I got to see this guy work.' And then Beyonce [Knowles] and Jennifer Hudson and it just all came together in the right way. Then it was like ‘I don't care what it takes to get in that I want to be a part of that movie.’

Q: How much or not do you see this guy as the villain of the piece?

Foxx: Is he a villain of the piece? I think in a sense he is. I think that the calculated thing that was going on in my mind with Curtis is that he is the type of guy that will do what he needs to do to make it and those people are always scary. You can't really pin them down as far as loyalty. He got rid of Effie because he wanted to be able to control the group. Effie was a vocal person in the group so therefore he nixed the relationship with her. Then I see that Deena is my money, 'Oh let me marry Deena.' So now how can she tell me no? I am her husband and there are people like that in the music business that I ran into. Not like necessarily Berry Gordy but I wanted to make Curtis

unforgiving and relentless because it is the movie. If it was the play, maybe they would make something at the end soften him up because people have to come see this every week but for the movie, I think Curtis had to be that black hole that everybody was trying to get out of. So villain? Yeah, and at the same time what is funny is when the executives I run into out here, they go 'I don't understand why people don't like Curtis?' [Laughs] He just trying to provide 'I loved him Jamie, great job!' and I think literally that is what I was trying to get, all the artists and the people that feel this. One black girl called my friend and said 'Tell Jamie Foxx I am going to slap the shit out of him for what he did to Eddie and Beyonce.' And it is funny that it's cool to see how people, even Oprah [Winfrey] was like 'Oh, I can't believe.' And I said 'Oprah that is not me, its Curtis.' So it's effective.

Q: How great is it to be doing an old fashioned movie?

Foxx: Great, somebody was talking about 'The Wiz' and I said it’s like walking into your mom or you father’s closet, grabbing clothes, and looking in the mirror and acting out these characters so it was great. Bill Condon did a fabulous job of connecting the drama in everything to this musical to make it a real movie.

Q: You are also in a similar period, a little bit later I think than 'Ray,' but kind of an older time period piece, going back to that era and another musical. Obviously this is different than ‘Ray,' but I know you love music. Is it just another opportunity for you to explore another side of your musical abilities?

Foxx: I don't know. I know one thing, that after this movie it is going to be a lot of fuel for whoever is singing. When Jennifer Hudson drops her album, it is a problem. Even Beyonce's album is going up now because we are getting closer to 'Dreamgirls.' My album went up 13 percent because of 'Dreamgirls' so it is actually a great time and a weird time to be a celebrity because at one point you could only do one thing and now you pretty much have to do all of it in order to make it successful so it is always great to have a music look, like we are about to go out on tour doing our musical stand up, so it is great to have a musical look and take it out on tour.

Q: Do you enjoy going out on tour?

Foxx: Oh yeah definitely. See that is the thing with me. Like I look at Denzel [Washington] or I look at any other person who has won an Oscar and they don't get a chance to go out and stand in front of 20,000 people and do a joke and talk about how it feels to do that, or win that, or sing and this and that, so it’s good to get out there. We are going to hit like 30 cities.

Q: When somebody flat out says what do you do for a living, what is your answer to that?

Foxx: I am in the hot business. I am in the hot business, artistic is hot. I try to find out what is the hottest thing you can do musically and then try to be successful at it like moving closer. When we were on 'In Living Color,' we would try to come up with a phrase during the week that we would say on the show that people will say it for the rest of their lives, like 'Ooo, I will rock your world.' So we try to be artistic in an artist mode but how do we make it hot? Like Ray Charles 'I am going to make ya do what it do,' we was consciously thinking everybody is going to say that, and every rapper 'I'm going to make ya do.' Kanye West 'She take my money.' And so that is where we are all coming in and so that is the thing the hot business. I am just lucky enough to have landed in some of the right places to try to keep it hot.

Q: Do you think that 'Dreamgirls' can influence hip hop?

Foxx: Oh yeah, come on. Yeah! Here is my prediction for the house music community 'And I am telling you [drum sounds] And I am telling you.’ I am guaranteeing you right now that record right there is going to be absolutely phenomenal and if Jennifer Hudson does it, she is going to be the next Diana Ross because you take nowadays everything is so internet and visual and you take it and connect the dots a little bit. It is not a hard stretch to take that from the movie and give it another life on the other side.

Q: Have you given her any advice at all on handling fame and popularity and media and all of that?

Foxx: I think that Jennifer Hudson is prepared for it because I think that anybody who would stand up on the 'American Idol' stage and take that sort of abuse? I mean cause when I saw the tapes of whatever the dude, the Simon [Cowell] dude, I went 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, this girl is great!' So going through all of that when all the world was watching, I think she is going to be fine. What is great is to see her innocent and to see her fragile and sort of like that's the wonderful thing. You see somebody where this should be happening, so don't tell her too much because she will over think.

Q: How was the reality of working with Eddie Murphy compared to whatever expectations you had?

Foxx: Crazy. I would just be looking at Eddie Murphy going 'Wow! That is Eddie Murphy.' Because as a comic he was the first dude that made it sexy, the first dude that made it hot. He made comedy Rock and Roll. He had leather on and the jewels and he was cussing as opposed to

listening to the record in the basement, Richard Pryor record. He said, ‘Forget that record. I am going to take this to the stage. I am going to be 18 years old in Des Moines, Iowa doing stadiums.’ So to me, he is the legend of what any entertainer would want to be able to do. Take that comedy, go to a hot TV show, go to movies, and do all the different characters. For me, it was a great experience and I know sometimes I was too loud coming on the set yelling 'Hey E! What is up?' and he was like 'Hey, down a bit, I am trying to get in my character.' And I could tell I was getting a little, you know, but he was cool about it and you watch him work and take a lesson.

Q: Now career wise he was hotter than hot, had a down period, was hot again. Do you always wonder about that for yourself?

Foxx: I think for Eddie Murphy it is tougher because I don't think he has done too many movies where he didn't make 100 million dollars and people even at that point said 'Ah, but he ain't really hot.' So it is tough for him and I would never want that type of pressure. I like my, I like where I am. Some people said 'Jamie, you didn't get a chance to sing in that movie, everybody else had songs. How did that feel?' I kind of like my position of just kind of being in the back because I

have been so shiny and out there and look at me, I got a movie, look at me, I got a record. When you watch someone rising at the top it is kind of tough because they grade you a little different. It is good to see him now and even I was going, some lady yelled at the Oprah table 'Glad you back, Eddie!' and he looked and said 'Where I been?' and I said 'No, you haven't been anywhere but we missed you. The Eddie Murphy fans missed that dangerous quality of you in things.' So that is tough for him.

Q: You were talking about Berry Gordy and you hear Jamie Foxx, who everyone knows is a great impressionist, is going to play that role. How would you feel and have you talked to him about that?

Foxx: I think I know how he feels because the play ran for a long time. I talked down there and said 'You know this is not my story.' This is not really his story because you can't do what Berry Gordy did at that time without having some type of redeeming quality about him because when he took black music and ushered it into the white world, he didn't just say, ‘Here is the record.’ He actually took those artists and [showed them] how to be eloquent, how to speak, and how to perform. So it was a little bit deeper than what Curtis shows. Curtis shows you the greedy American dream, the capitalistic version of the American dream. So it's not fair to say that it is Berry Gordy.

Q: Going back to what you said before about your character being the villain, do you think that he loves Deena Jones?

Foxx: I think he loves Deena Jones but it is all for a little bit of the wrong reasons because at the end of the day he may love her a certain percentage and then the rest of that percentage he really loves himself, and it is always tough for the person to orchestrate the dream but he can't execute. He can't sing it, he can't perform it. So when Jimmy Early got there and all the women are yelling for him, he is like 'Man, I had something to do with that.' So that's what you see a lot of times is that people become this big thing because they want people to know that I had something to do with it and that is what hurts.

Q: You mentioned Richard Pryor and Eddie and the language they used in their stand up and I am just wondering since the whole issue came about with first Michael Richards and then the boycott of the 'N' word?

Foxx: Who is boycotting the 'N' word?

Q: Well there has been a call to have the 'N' word boycotted by comedians and rappers.

Foxx: Oh, come on! Ain't anybody doing that? Look, Michael Richards just needs to go away. That's the first thing. He just needs to go away and get himself together. He is dealing with some things. The whole getting together -- what are they going to do now -- march? He and Jesse Jackson? That is the funniest thing I ever see in my life! I look up and say, 'What is Jesse Jackson doing with Kramer?!' That is crazy. Listen, he made a terrible mistake. It was something that he has probably been dealing with for life. What he needs to do is not go grab Jesse Jackson or getting in the press. Someone just talk to him and just say, 'Go away for a bit because America, we do forget.' We will forget so fast because the internet gets to blogging and by the 267,000th blog, we forget what we write, 'Oh that right to comment 1,877, you are right!' So just go away for a minute and chill out.

Q: How did you deal with 'Miami Vice' not really working out?

Foxx: Yeah, it sucked. That is one of the ones where you just go 'I ain't going to go out today.' [Laughs] I am going to chill today. It ain't good.

Q: I think that what it could have been was great, but it didn't crack it.

Foxx: Now it's Christmas time and 'Dreamgirls' is coming out.

"Dreamgirls” opens in theaters in limited release on December 15^th and goes wide December 25^th.