Who would you rather hear sing Etta James’ signature tunes, the real deal or Beyonce Knowles? If you prefer the latter, then you’ll want to see Cadillac Records and even buy the film’s soundtrack, both of which feature Beyonce performing a few of James’ songs, including a nearly spot-on copy of “At Last” (listen to it here). Other actors in the film (and on the soundtrack) who do their own singing while portraying legendary music artists include Jeffrey Wright (as Muddy Waters), Mos Def (Chuck Berry) and Columbus Short (Little Walter).

It’s a strange idea to pay tribute to a singer with a biopic or ensemble music historical and then replace that singer’s voice with another, more amateur vocalist. Yet Hollywood does it all the time and, surprisingly, the new performances usually turn out pretty good. Just listen to the following nine actors and actresses who managed to do justice to the artist they were portraying.
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A new Val Kilmer film, The Steam Experiment, is currently filming in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I got a chance to visit the set the other night, and while I wasn’t able to talk to star Val Kilmer, I did happen to record a video of Armand Assante spilling a martini all over himself (see above).

In the film, Kilmer plays a disgraced science professor with an extreme theory about how global warming will turn the general public into homicidal maniacs. In an effort to get the local paper to publish a story about his theory, he imprisons six innocent people in a steam bath and slowly turns up the heat until his demands are met. Armand Assante plays the tough detective who’s trying to thwart the diabolical plan.

I’ve lived in Grand Rapids for most of my life, and the movie thing is a new development. The state recently passed some very attractive tax incentives in hopes of luring productions to the state. As the Michigan news site Mlive.com reports, “Productions that spend $50,000 or more in Michigan are eligible to receive up to a 40 percent refundable tax credit.” These are reportedly the best tax incentives in the country. It seems to be working, as 50 films have been approved to film here so far this year.

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• Hancock made a bunch of money on Tuesday. Yay, Will Smith IS America!
• All together now, in our best Werner Herzog voice: “Don’t call it a reeeemaaaaake!” But whatever it is, Val Kilmer and Xzibit have joined the cast of Bad Lieutenant.
• Timothy M. Gray’s midyear assessment of the Oscar race finds a lot of ways to say “no one knows anything.” The uncertainty is causing such a frenzy that we’re apparently considering handing out Oscars to Hamlet 2 and (maybe even worse) The Visitor. Please, Toronto, deliver us from this crisis!
• Speaking of: Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna and the Michael Cera/Kat Dennings romantic dramedy Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist have been added to the TIFF lineup.

Ten years ago, I attended a book signing for Ray Manzarek’s memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors, and I asked the author/keyboardist why he doesn’t just make another movie about The Doors. Manzarek had spent most of the event complaining about Oliver Stone’s 1991 film, and he did graduate from film school, so I figured he’d at least thought about the idea. But he responded by saying he had other films he wanted to make, from original scripts he’d written.

I’m pretty sure one of the scripts he mentioned then became his 2000 film Love Her Madly, which has a nice exploitive title. And now according to Billboard, he’s got four more scripts, including one based on either the song or album L.A. Woman (the best driving album of all time, IMHO) and another that sounds suspiciously like the scene from Stone’s film in which the band and friends do drugs in the desert. But apparently he’s still not up to the challenge of writing something that will go against Stone and Randall Jahnson’s script for The Doors.

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