In Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, Gabourey Sidibe plays the title role of the obese Harlem teenager caught up in a cycle of abuse, incest and poverty. Sidibe, who knows she is no one’s idea of a movie star, says the best thing about actually starring in a movie is the example it sets for her two younger sisters, 13-year-old twins. “What is so great about me doing this film,” she says, is that “I’m an actual example for them to see that they can be whatever they want to be, no matter what they look like. When you think Hollywood actress, you don’t think of a girl that looks like me, but now you can. There’s hope for my sisters.”
But Patton, who plays Precious’ teacher, Ms. Rain, thinks there’s a reason other than star power why audiences have embraced the movie. She says Precious, in spite of telling such a specific story, universally speaks to people who feel cast aside and ignored. Patton says she hopes audiences caught up in Precious’ story will become a little more compassionate and understanding. Sidibe hopes for the same thing. A confident, cheerful 26-year-old, the actress is nothing like her character, but she says she could relate to how Precious felt about her looks.
“A lot of my life I’ve been told I would never amount to anything unless I lost weight and that I can’t be pretty because I have darker skin,” she says. “I’ve been told that by my own community, by my own family. There have been days when I looked in the mirror and wished I had lighter skin, I wished that I had prettier hair, I wished I were thinner. Precious, when she looks in the mirror, she sees a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and I’ve gone there myself, but that was what my life was like at sixteen.” In the movie, Precious starts opening up when she experiences some kindness from Ms. Rain and begins learning to read and write and tell her story. Her life doesn’t become a fairy tale, but she feels more comfortable with herself. “Towards the end of the film Precious does finally see herself in the mirror and not a blonde model, and that speaks volumes to my life,” Sidibe says. “At some point I too figured out that my beauty doesn’t depend on being lighter skinned with wavy hair. None of that matters because my beauty is my own.”