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AllSimpson.com is the
unofficial fanlisting for the
beautiful and talented actress
Jessica Simpson. We provide the
biography, discography, latest news,
pictures, and much more. I hope you
enjoy your stay, and come back soon! |
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:: August 2005 :: |
| 12
Aug
2005 -
Yahoo! News |
| Jessica Simpson:
Just A Good OL' Star |
She first tasted
fame with music, and her profile grew along with her
MTV reality show. Now, Jessica Simpson is the
amateur actress (with very little screen time) who
is a big reason The Dukes of Hazzard is a hit movie.
On top of that, she has an album due in November and
another movie project on tap.
Simpson, 25, has thwarted Hollywood's traditional
star-making system. She did not spend years in
supporting roles, working her way up to a No. 1
blockbuster. She certainly did not fret about
overexposure. But her position as an A-list star
with very little acting chops is not quite the head-scratcher
it appears to be, Hollywood insiders say.
Jessica "connected to an audience with her reality
show (MTV's Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica), and the real
strength of her celebrity is her personality," says
Janice Min, editor in chief at Us Weekly magazine.
"Her breakthrough moment was when she uttered, 'Is
it chicken or fish?' " If she was not pretending,
Jessica did a good job of appearing to be confused
about the key ingredient in a certain brand of tuna.
Even before her marriage in October 2002 to singer
Nick Lachey, 31, became an MTV hit show, Simpson had
a growing fan base thanks to her music. Her first
album, 1999's Sweet Kisses, has sold a respectable
1.8 million copies. But when her next album tanked
in 2001, Simpson's father, Joe, decided to defy the
record industry's conventional path to pop stardom.
"They were putting all the emphasis on her 4½-octave
range, and that's not what separates Jessica from
all the rest," Joe Simpson says. "What people really
love is her heart." Negative publicity about Jessica
isn't a concern, he says. "We're not doing this for
the critics. We're doing this for the people on the
street."
So instead of worrying about what went wrong with
the second album, Jessica's next step was Newlyweds,
which led to an immediate boost in record sales.
The show also led to a live performance tour in 2004
and network specials where she could sing her heart
out with no pressure, says her dad. "We're always
praying that she won't hit a wrong note. But because
the show made it OK for her to be human, you breathe
easy. If she makes a mistake, she'll go on."
The obvious next step: Hollywood.
With her heart set on landing the part of Daisy
Duke, Simpson beat out Britney Spears for it. By the
time Spears read for the role, the Dukes folks were
"already in like with Jessica," says producer Bill
Gerber, who adds that Spears' plate was already full
at the time. "We tested a ton of girls, and we had
interest from some pretty big people. But everything
about Jessica screamed Daisy Duke."
Locking in the draw of Jessica as Daisy: The
bodacious bumpkin character is not a big stretch
from Jessica's public persona from Newlyweds.
Marketing possibilities? Sure, Gerber says. But it
didn't play into the decision to cast her. "She had
to earn it 100%."
Jessica's plan from here? An album in November, and
then she begins filming a goofy Private
Benjamin-like role in February, working again with
Gerber.
"Those are the places where we want to go and not
take ourselves too seriously," Joe Simpson says.
"We'll leave great actresses their slot in history."
And all those critics who rant that Simpson has no
real talent? "As of right now, she has the last
laugh," Us Weekly's Min says.
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| ©
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. |
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