1.12.08

Movie:"Cadillac records"


A whole uproar is happening now because of this movie that I have not seen yet,but I'm definitely very curious about.Several years ago I read excellent book "Spinning blues into gold" (or something like that) by Nadine Cohodas about "Chess records" so I'm not only familiar with Chess music but also with a story behind it. It appears that role of Etta James is played by pop starlet Beyonce and this now brings a backlash similar to that of Diana Ross playing Billie Holiday in early 1970s.
I completely understand people who love Etta James (I am big fan of her music myself) and would prefer to see accomplished actress instead but also it seems that Beyonce pop fluff brought her a lot of bad will and malice towards her - people dislike her for simply being Beyonce - and my opinion is that her fame can only bring audience to this movie and perhaps give some new interest to music of "Chess records" and Etta James herself.There are lots of kids who don't even know about this music so why not bringing big star into it if that means wide-spread popularity and hopefuly succes of the movie.From what I saw it looks that Beyonce gave her best & was very respectful towards music legend.Being excatly like character was never main priority in movie industry and people like Robert De Niro who would completely transform inside-out are super rare.It's all about impressions and hopefuly this will bring Etta closer to wide audience while she is still alive instead posthumously.

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