The rounds of press for the emotionally hard-hitting film Precious are turning into rounds of confessions as the festival rolls on. Sitting across from a handful of reporters, director Lee Daniels didn't mince words. Precious, about an abused teenager in Harlem, contains scenes in which the girl fantasizes about a life as a music-video star, rather than the grim, trapped world in which she lives. Daniels said he would also try to escape as a child through fantasy.
"I'm openly gay, and I got picked on and stuff. So, you know, when I got beat up or chased, I used to pretend I was somewhere else. So I brought me into Precious," Daniel said. "I used to pretend that I was a pirate. I pretended that I was...you know, Aladdin with his magic carpet? I'd pretend that often. Yeah, sometimes I pretended I was Cinderella. I'm going to be honest -- and quoted," he said, looking in mock worry at the row of digital recorders lying in wait on the table in front of him.
The ebullient star Gabourey Sidibe, meanwhile, admitted that it was pure chance that a friend mentioned the audition. She skipped class to attend and in a flash of callbacks and a meeting with Daniels, she quickly got the part. And given her little acting experience, how did she manage pull off such a powerful role? "Magic," she said, feigning diva breathlessness.
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