Robert Townsend saw something special in Beyoncé during her very first audition.
The acclaimed director recently opened up to Lena Waithe on Legacy Talk about casting the then-19-year-old singer in MTV’ s 2001 movie Carmen: AHip Hopera Beyonc é landed the lead duty of Carmen Brown, and it noted her acting launching prior to future functions in hits like Dreamgirls and Obsessed.
“I didn’t know Beyoncé […] I knew of her and I was like, ‘Wow, she has a striking look.’ You know, she’s a beautiful, young girl, but I could see that she had something special. ’Cause [with] my director eyes, I go, ‘Something’s going on with her. She’s got something,’” Townsend remembered.
Though Townsend was persuaded Beyonc é was ideal for the lead duty of Brown, the workshop urged she audition. With this being her really initial acting audition, nerves obtained the very best of her.
“I could tell she was really nervous,” Townsend clarified. “I have an arsenal when it comes to getting performance or making somebody comfortable.”
To alleviate the minute, Townsend chose to consist of individuals that featured her– her bodyguard and a tag exec– right into the scene. But the strategy operated in an unanticipated method.
“I told her bodyguard and the label executive who accompanied Bey to be part of the scene as well. They started to sweat and really get nervous and then she was watching them get nervous and she got stronger. I said, ‘Oh, there it is,’” he stated.
That advancement minute changed the power in the area, and Beyonc é’s self-confidence started to radiate.
“She was so excited and asked to repeat the scene a few more times and even requested to do the ‘death scene,’” Townsend included, describing Carmen’s heartbreaking finishing in the movie.
Looking back greater than twenty years later on, Townsend stated he understood he was observing the production of a super star.
“Watching her blossom into the superstar that she has become, I saw it in that room because there’s certain actors/actresses’ first audition, they wouldn’t go all the way there. She went all the way there,” he stated.
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