COMMENT

Starring Jordin Sparks, Whitney Houston, Mike Epps, CeeLo Green, Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumpter, Derek Luke and Omari Hardwick, “Sparkle” arrives in theaters August 17.

Wish Fulfillment

“[This film is] about empowerment, it’s about wish fulfillment,” says producer Debra Martin Chase. “At one point in the movie, Sparkle has to confront her big dream and own it because if you don’t own it, you can’t achieve it. So no, it’s not a rags to riches story because it’s not about money. It’s about fulfilling your destiny, realizing your gifts and using them.”

Chase’s own dream to see “Sparkle” on the big screen again finally came to fruition when the movie came up in conversation at a casual dinner with Sony chairman Michael Lynton. Says Chase, “he said, ‘I know ‘Sparkle.’ I know what that movie means. I would make that movie.’ It’s about having a big dream and being afraid to pursue your dream and then FINALLY getting the courage AND THE FAITH to go after it.”

“That’s what attracted me to it,” adds director Salim Akil, “that it was a beloved movie in the African-American community and that I was going to start peeling back the onion on it and reinventing it, and would people appreciate it? That was a good space to be in.”

A Story for Everyone

“Yes, the main characters are African-American, but the story is everybody’s story,” explains Chase. “It’s about family, it’s about having a big dream and being afraid to pursue your dream and then getting the courage to go after it. And the choices that we make, and how they guide our lives for the good and for the bad, and mother daughter relationships … it’s got everything. That’s what good filmmaking should be about, and [Salim Akil] does it extremely well.”

Representing Aspirational Characters

As Akil explains, “you could want to live in the past, which I think the character of Emma sort of represents, or you can want to move forward in the future and see what you can do in that space, and so the girls represented the future and the aspirational aspect of America at that time. You had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Beatles, all these things, music was changing, people’s political views were changing, and I felt it was important to set it in that time.”

The Screenplay and Working With the Akils

“I had been wanting to work with Mara [Brock Akil, who wrote the screenplay] for a long time, and so the good thing about the Akils, when you’re lucky, is that you get the two for one, and Mara’s adaptation is just phenomenal,” says Chase. “Her dialogue is so delicious and rich and textured. It’s a treat to read, it’s a treat for the actors to say, and she just did an incredible job on this. This is one of those movies where everybody came to the table with passion for ‘Sparkle’ and to make a great movie, so there’s no weak link on the chain here!”

Fresh Talent in Jordin Sparks

“She is just so great for the role,” says producer T.D. Jakes. “First of all, she relates personally to the story of Sparkle. She knows what it is to have a musical gift and fight her way up and all of a sudden, everything explodes onto the stage of life. But she also has an innocence and a freshness that perhaps somebody who had worked more in the industry would not bring to the screen.”

Adds Akil, “she had to be the baby sister, the shy one, and I think the thing that drew me to Jordin was that she’s very strong, she has opinions and she can act, so to calibrate her performance and hold her back until it was time for her to shine was fun.”

“People are going to be thrilled,” says Chase, “maybe some will be surprised, but [Sparks] establishes herself as a real movie star and a real actress with this movie and it’s an exciting debut to watch.”

The Incomparable Whitney Houston

“What she’s giving you in this film is what she’s given consistently since we’ve known her as an artist and that is quality, subtlety, knowing how to play the quiet moments and knowing how to restrain herself in the bigger moments, so that her Emma anchors the movie. She was excited about playing it, and she’s amazing in it,” explains Akil.

Working With a Versatile Cast

As producer Jakes sees it, the cast of “Sparkle” “is tremendous. They’re just as much fun off screen as they are on screen. I think they bring a freshness to the characters, and a newness and an edge to the story that I think is very, very provocative for those of us who have seen the original ‘Sparkle.’ To those who have never seen it, I think you’ll be riveted because the cast is quite believable, very, very talented, very, very gifted people, and though they have a lot of fun doing their job, they’re still very professional at being able to deliver cinematically the power of a very prolific and profound story.”

In the end, Jakes continues, he hopes audiences see “Sparkle” as the kind of powerful film that not only stirs the spirit through music, but encourages everybody to work toward their dreams. He adds, “I think it’s important that we see this movie because it reminds us of what a relentless spirit and a tenacious heart will do even when it is encapsulated in a young girl who seems to be naïve on the surface, but beneath it all has a depth and a fervency in her spirit that should remind us that no matter what life hands us, if we fight hard enough we can get back up again.”