Beyonce Knowles fans will be surprised to see the Destiny’s Child frontwoman without make-up and high end fashion outfits in the new film, the Fighting Temptations, co-starring Cuba Gooding Jr., that hits theaters Friday (September 19).
Knowles portrays Lilly, a singer in a small town in Georgia, who is recruited by Gooding’s character, Darrin Hill (her childhood sweetheart), to join the local church’s choir. In the event Hill can lead the choir into the national competition, he will receive an inheritance from his late aunt.
Knowles said that her character was not supposed to look like a pop star. “It’s very unglamorous, which is something that I did consciously,” Knowles said. “I wanted to do something with no make-up, my clothes are just everyday, and I have problems that everyone goes through so, it’s just me in a new light in a very real, unglamorous state.”
Knowles added that she is pleased with the way the movie turned out. “I saw the movie with a lot of different people. They didn’t know I was in the back, I was just sitting there observing,” Knowles said. “Everybody’s foot was tapping, people were just clapping… you can’t help it, it’s for your soul. It’s very important and I know all of my music, even the R&B music, you can hear it in there.”
Gooding said he was impressed with how great Beyonce sounds when singing live. “Beyonce, she obviously is beautiful and can sing like amazing,” Gooding said. “I was so blown away the first day of rehearsals because you know, everybody was tired, it was early in the morning and we were all reading off our scripts because we didn’t really know the lines. And then instead of saying, ‘This is where I sing,’ she just broke into this song. I looked around and I was like, ‘I hope somebody recorded that.'”
The movie also co-stars Montell Jordan, Melba Moore, Angie Stone, T-Bone, Zane, Steve Harvey, Rue McClanahan, Ann Nesby, Shirley Caesar, Wendell Pierce, LaTanya Richardson, Faith Evans, and Mike Epps.