Cannes is always a good time for the big studios to launch their big movies – whether they're premiering proper or months away from seeing the inside of a multiplex. So it was a big, glitzy and very early Cannes bow for DreamWorks' Dreamgirls, starring Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles and Eddie Murphy, and adapted from the ‘80s Broadway smash by Chicago-scripter Bill Condon.
Taking the stage at the Martinez Hotel's opulent ballroom (not an easy place to get into even if you are invited – Empire received the requisite stonewall treatment from security, while A-list US critic Roger 'take no shit' Ebert spat impressively shouty rage at one unimpressed guard beside us), Condon looked and sounded somewhat overwhelmed. "We only wrapped this six weeks ago!" he half-complained, referring to the fact that we're not going to see the finished version until late in 2006.
Still, the 20-odd minutes he then rolled looked bold and polished, revealing a few key scenes and numbers in this musical celebration of Motown's breakout, as told via the fortunes of made-up girl group The Dreamettes – loosely based on Diana Ross' Supremes. Even disregarding the usual studio-payroll whoopers, it went down very well; Empire was certainly bemused by the Japanese journo who was rather bizarrely-but-touchingly weeping, she was so impressed with what she'd seen.
Eddie 'no press' Murphy was absent, but Jamie Foxx was more than happy to speak for him when Empire caught up with him earlier today. "It's been a long time he's been this excited about a movie," said Foxx. "It's a different look [for him] – the look of it is not just the regular comedy that he does, this is a drama for him. This is a chance for Eddie to turn it on – you're gonna go 'Oh my goodness,' because he really goes through it with his character.'"
An Oscar-nomination for Eddie Murphy? Stranger things have happened…