Picturehouse Blog

Release date: 29 January
Certificate: 15
110 mins
USA 2009

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz

Adapted from the bestselling novel Push by Sapphire, PRECIOUS tells the inspirational story of a girl whose struggle embodies America’s downtrodden youth. Pregnant by her father with her second child and taunted over her obesity and illiteracy by her peers, Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones’s life is one of unimaginable trauma and heartache.

Growing up in New York’s unforgiving Harlem district, Precious is plagued by her drug-addicted father and deranged mother, who are not so much unwilling parents as outright unfit. Her home is the epitome of broken. But when she is invited to an alternative school by a social worker (Carey), she discovers hope in the support around her. Encouraged not tormented, she becomes determined to turn her life around.

With Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry onboard as executive producers and Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz supporting, PRECIOUS seems destined for big-screen success. But it is the bold direction and a brave central performance from newcomer Gabourey Sidibe that have been stirring expectation since the film premiered at Sundance 2009. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but anyone who writes off PRECIOUS does so at their own peril. This is set to be one of the year’s big cinematic surprises and a serious awards contender.

//Extra Precious Care//

Having received considerable praise and a number of accolades, it is no surprise that American writer-cum-poet Sapphire was very protective of her debut novel. Such a story was an easy target for Hollywood, and it had been highly desired by several major studios since its publication in 1996. This level of interest led Push to be closely cosseted by its creator. After falling in love with the book some years ago, however, director-producer Lee Daniels (SHADOWBOXER) was determined to take Push onto a bigger platform.

“I’d never read anything so breathtakingly honest and original. Every page, my mouth was open,” he says. “It became like my lover and I slept with it under my pillow.” He continues: “I knew this person, I knew her mother, I knew the social worker, I knew the girls, I knew the teacher – I knew everybody. I thought it was real.”

Daniels is no stranger to literary adaptations of course, having produced 2002’s Oscar-sweeping MONSTER’S BALL. This time around, however, he admits that acquiring the rights to Push was an altogether more challenging prospect. Sapphire was understandably wary of handing over her most precious of oeuvres, but Daniels was just as determined.

“I actually stalked her,” he jokes. “No; she’s really an auteur, you know. She’s a genius and a scholar and a poet. And I don’t think she’s impressed with Hollywood at all,” he explains. “I think that she felt that I would – or that anyone could – make a bad movie out of it. And I think that she thought if we did, it would somehow affect her piece of literature. I think that once she got over the fact that no matter how bad the movie was it would never affect her book and her work, she was okay.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The moment I saw ‘Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire’, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage other people to see this movie. The film is so raw and powerful – it split me open.” – OPRAH WINFREY

“Precious simply cannot be missed” – MARY CORLISS, TIME MAGAZINE