About "Sparkle" Movie Remake

咱家天后Whitney Houston已經與"Sparkle"劇組正式簽約囉！
此消息除了各大娛樂網站證實外，"Sparkle"劇中扮演惠媽女兒的Jordin Sparks，也親自上網推文證實此消息囉~

From Jordin Sparks 's twitter:
I'm gonna be in a movie with Whitney Houston. I can die happy. :)

Source:Jordin Sparks 's twitter

Confirmed - Whitney Houston to Star in 'Sparkle' With Jordin Sparks


With over 170 million combined album, singles and videos sold worldwide during her career with Arista Records, Whitney Houston has established a benchmark for superstardom. It had been speculated that Houston would star opposite IN THE HEIGHTS alum Jordin Sparks in an upcoming remake of 1976's 'Sparkle,' and today Showbiz411 confirmed the rumor.

Houston will play Sparks's mother in the film, which will feature the original score from composer Curtis Mayfield. Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil will serve as writer and director.

Jordin Sparks won FOX's American Idol at just 17 years old, and followed up with over 9 million singles sold to date. In 2010 she made her Broadway debut as Nina in IN THE HEIGHTS. 'Sparkle' will mark her silver screen debut.

Houston's career has consisted of record-setting achievements in music: the only artist to chart seven consecutive #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love Of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"); the first female artist to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at #1 (her second album, Whitney, 1987); and the only artist with seven consecutive multi-platinum albums (Whitney Houston, Whitney, I'm Your Baby Tonight, The Bodyguard, Waiting To Exhale, and The Preacher's Wife soundtracks, and My Love Is Your Love).

In fact, The Bodyguard soundtrack is one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all-time (at 17x-platinum in the U.S. alone), and Whitney's career-defining version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is the biggest-selling U.S. single of all-time (at 4x-platinum).

Source:Broadway World.com

Related News:

• Whitney Houston Confirmed for “Sparkle” Remake with Jordin Sparks


• Casting News: Kevin Costner Out of Django Unchained, Marisa Tomei in Us & Them, Whitney Houston to Sparkle, and More


• Whitney, Jordin Sparks confirmed for Sparkle remake


• Sparks as Sparkle, Whitney Houston signs on as mama

前幾天惠媽和劇組開過會，正式簽約加入"Sparkle" Movie的演出陣容。
該劇預定在下個月開鏡拍攝，預計花8週的時間來完成，而電影原聲帶的部份，將由R. Kelly負責統籌製作。

Director Tapping R. Kelly For “Sparkle” Remake Soundtrack

The director of the pending Sparkle remake, “The Game’s Salim Akil, is tapping R. Kelly to create a modern score for the forthcoming flick. This will undoubtedly be a difficult feat, seeing as how soul legend Curtis Mayfield penned the original. Big shoes to fill, Mr. Kelly. However, Akil believes he’s totally up for the challenge.

The director also revealed to Blackfilm.com’s Wilson Morales that he’s not entirely taking the film out of a nostalgic decade. Instead of sticking to the film’s 1950’s setting, Akil will move the storyline to 1968, “when America was going through a huge change. (Martin Luther) King was assassinated, the Beatles hit, and Motown was ruling, and there was all this change going on,” says Akil. He also revealed that the new flick will focus on women’s empowerment. “The one thing I thought I could do is bring my wife Mara (Brock Akil) onboard. What I wanted to do with women is empower them more and I think that would be the biggest change.”

Flip it to read how R. Kelly might be involved in the soundtrack.

We’re going to respect the Curtis Mayfield score, and we’re going to use some of his songs. I’m a huge fan of his work and in ‘Jumping the Broom,’ it ends with a Curtis Mayfield song. Curtis’ voice is so indicative of the times and his lyrics was so spot on. They’re not ethereal lyrics. The’re very ground lyric but with ethereal music. We’re talking to another guy who does in a lot of different ways and it will be interesting to see how people react to it. Hopefully, R. Kelly will come on and do some of the music for the film. His latest music sounds like it came from a time period. Here’s a guy who can write about a woman being a jeep to ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and he’s an artist. Whether you like him or dislike him, I love artists, and I know that he will just go deep into it and come up with something unique.

Source:Hip Hollywood

至於舊版的"Sparkle" Movie是啥故事型態，有興趣的粉絲們，可以到IMDb去了解一下囉！
This is of the 1976 version but gives you an idea of what the movie is about.

Sparkle (1976)
www.imdb.com
A girl group experiences turmoil after one of their members turns to drugs and another achieves their desired fame all by herself.

Director:
Sam O'Steen
Writers:
Joel Schumacher, Howard Rosenman (story)
Stars:
Philip Michael Thomas, Irene Cara and Lonette McKee

Movie Trailer:IMDb:Sparkle Trailer (1976)

Source:IMDb:Sparkle (1976)

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愛惠旗艦店版主Bryan，針對"Sparkle" Movie (1976)版本發了專文，大家可以去探個究竟喔！
Sparkle是什麼？可以吃嗎？ @ 愛惠旗艦店

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Update:The "Sparkle" Cast Continues to Grow!!
Derek Luke Lands A Lead Role In Sparkle

It's surprising how rapidly the remake of Sam O'Steen's Sparkle is coming together. While the project stuttered in development hell for an extended period of time, it's all been working out these past two weeks. First, Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks and Mike Epps signed on to star in the film with Jumping The Broom helmer Salim Akil in the director's chair, and now, according to Black Film, Derek Luke has also joined the cast.

Confirmed in an interview with producer Debra Martin Chase, Luke will play Stix, the part played by Miami Vice's Philip Michael Thomas in the original. The story follows a group of three young singers, led by a girl named Sparkle (Jordin Sparks), as they move from the church choir to the big time. In addition to being a budding songwriter, Stix also serves as the group's manager and is Sparkle's love interest. Houston will play Sparkle's mother, who doesn't exactly approve of her daughter's singing career, while Epps plays Satin, a dangerous man who gets one of the singers hooked on drugs. The film is scheduled to go into production next month with TriStar Pictures attached as a distributor.

Derek Luke is having a pretty damn good year. In addition to this new starring role, he also played a member of the Howling Commandos in this summer's blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger and had a regular role on the Jada Pinkett Smith series Hawthorne. Add the fact that he has a role in the Lorene Scafaria comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and you can be assured that we'll be seeing plenty more of him in the future.

Source:CinemaBlend.com

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Update:
"Sparkle" Cast Continues to Grow

The cast of Sparkle is growing by the minute! Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that the Grammy-winning multi-platinum R&B singer and mentor on NBC’s The Voice, Cee Lo Green has joined the cast, which already includes American Idol winner Jordin Sparks in the title role of an aspiring music star. Whitney Houston has signed on to play her mother.

Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter have also signed up to play Sparkles’ sisters, Sister and Dolores. Cee Lo Green will play the group’s opening act. Omari Hardwick, will play one of the love interests for Ejogo’s character and Derek Luke and Mike Epps round out the cast.

Director Salim Akil will helm the film from a script penned by his wife Mara Brock Akil. And catch this, R. Kelly has agreed to write original music for the film. Wow, this movie went from being lost in development to production-ready in no time. ‘Sparkle’ is set to begin filming next month.

Source:BlackThespian.com

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Update:惠媽可能會在電影原聲帶裡，高歌2曲喔....
Whitney Houston to Sing Gospel Songs in “Sparkle”
Exclusive: The remake of “Sparkle” is on the road to starting next month. Whitney Houston, already announced, will play Jordin Sparks‘s mother. In this version, Whitney’s character will not be a maid but a former R&B star who’s gone back to the church. I am told that Whitney will sing two gospel songs in the film.

The rest of the soundtrack is divided between the original Curtis Mayfield songs and four new songs from R. Kelly. Added to the cast: pop star Cee Lo Green, and actor Derek Luke. Debra Martin Chase and Howard Rosenman are producing, Salim Akil is directing from a script by his wife, Mara Brock Akil. “Sparkle” will be released by TriStar/Sony in 2012 or 2013 at the latest, not 2014 as stated in the imdb.

And what about Whitney? My source say she’s in great shape, and never looked better.

Source:Showbiz411.com



惠妮迷們，阿惠重返大螢幕的最新消息，請大家繼續鎖定我們的相關報導喔！