News

Mariah Carey Appears in Festival-Approved Film

The premiere of Tennessee at the Tribeca Film Festival last Saturday revealed one considerable surprise: the depth of Mariah Carey's acting skills, something she's avoided showing since the scathing reviews behind her first movie, 2001's Glitter.

"Mariah said, 'This is going to be refreshing for me; this is actually something that I want,' even knowing that it was a gritty, hard shoot," Tennessee's director, Aaron Woodley, told Reuters. "Some people even told me that they forgot it was Mariah Carey when they were watching the film."

"She's not a diva and she came to work—and work hard she did," added the film's producer, Lee Daniels.

The damage Glitter did to Carey's career around 2001 was considerable, especially since it led to rumors of a nervous breakdown. As Carey explained in a statement, "The whole Glitter experience was very, very hard to go through, but I learned a lot from it."

She's also bounced back, scoring a huge hit with The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005. Carey also appeared in the film WiseGirls in the same year. Her latest LP, E=MC2, already hit No. 1 on the charts with 463,000 in sales its first week.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
04.30.08