Last Holiday
2006
Paramount Pictures
Directed by Wayne Wang
Starring Starring Queen Latifah
Song: Get Ready [Unmixed/Unreleased]
For Last Holiday, I was hired to produce and arrange a duet, performed by Queen Latifah and Smokey Robinson.
In the movie, Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) travels to Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, where she ends up attending a Smokey Robinson concert. The script called for Georgia to be selected to go onstage and sing “Get Ready” with Smokey. We pre-recorded the performance, then filmed it in that stunningly beautiful theater. But months later, in the cutting room, a story-continuity problem forced the filmmakers to omit the entire duet sequence. Heartbreaking!
In the same scene, Smokey also performs — with his real band and singers — another song (that I didn’t produce). But on the day of the shoot, his keyboard player couldn’t make it to the set. So, at the last minute, I was cast as the keyboard player. No close-ups, this time, but that’s me on stage with Smokey and company. (See still image.)
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