Lifetime After Idol: Fantasia talks about her film
Fantasia spoke to the TV press at the annual TV press tour in Pasadena, Calif., and thanks to the efforts of USA TODAY TV critic and bon vivant Robert Bianco, I have the transcript (but sadly, not the preview clip of her Lifetime film autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, in which, in a rather defensible form of typecasting, she plays herself).

I'm not going to reprint it -- it's 12 pages long, lots of other people (producer, director, TV execs) blather at length, and you'd be comatose by the end of the fourth paragraph -- but I will attempt to uncover a few nuggets.

Here's what Fantasia had to say about various topics relevant to Idol Chatter concerns.

> On "reliving her journey" in the autobiographical film:

"Man, I went through different emotions. I didn't think it was going to be tough going back playing myself, but it was, because I had to relive those moments. Man. It was tough because I went through so many different things, but, you know, Miss Debbie Allen (director) and Loretta (Devine, who plays her grandmother) and Kadeem (Hardison, who plays her father), you know, they would pull me to the side and they would say, 'This story, by you giving a story is going to help so many people, and I know that it's tough, but the more you fight, it's going to help so many people,' and at the end of the day, at the end I can remember when I was walking down the hallway, and I began to cry, and I said, 'You know what? I went through all those things, but I know why I share my life." And I'm just grateful. I'm thankful that I was able to do it.' "

> On whether she thought she would win Idol:

"Oh, man, no, no, I didn't. Making it -- I didn't even think I was going to make it to the top two ... Why I say that, because, you know, when you hear the word "idol," people think that you have to be a certain way. You have to be a perfect person. Your slate has to be clean. You have to be a role model in people's eyes. And when I went, I was the only one that had dropped out of school, that I had a child at a young age, and you know, I wasn't the perfect person that they thought that the idol should be.

"And I started hearing things about it, you know. They wouldn't allow us to go on the Internet. You weren't supposed to go on the Internet because they didn't want you to see what other people were saying about you. But people from home could go on the Internet, and they would call and say 'Listen. Let me tell you what they are saying. You know, they are saying that you are not good for kids, and you are not a good role model, and how could you be this, and how could you be that?' And I could have given up then. I could have been, like, 'Man, that's it.' But I said, 'Do you know what? I'm going to tough it out. I'm going to fight it to the end. I'm going to take it as far as I can take it.' I would tell my mom, 'Mama, I'm not going to win this. They won't give me a chance. They won't see that I'm trying to better myself.'

"And after the Summertime performance, I remember rehearsing for it. I said, 'I'm going to take this song, and I'm going to go out, and I'm going to sit on the stage, and I'm going to sacrifice myself. And I want them to see that in spite of all of that, I still am somebody.' And after that performance, a lot of people got on the Internet. And they said, 'Man, gosh, she won me. I don't know what it was, but I see what she's trying to do. I want to vote for her ...

"When I got to the top two ... people would say to me, 'You stop doubting yourself. You've got it. You've got it.' And I was still saying, 'I don't know. I'm not -- I'm not what they think that I should be.' So when Ryan Seacrest called my name, I don't know if you remember, but I jumped. I broke my shoes, my jewelry. Everything broke off from me, and I couldn't say anything because I said, 'Oh, man, I did it. I won.' So I didn't think that I was going to make it that far, but I thank God that the people allowed me a chance. They gave me the opportunity, and they looked past all my faults, and they gave me a chance."

> On Idol song choice strategy:

"You have to pick songs that everybody knows, you know. You have to pick a good variety of songs that everybody can relate to as well as the young people, as well as, you know, the older people. A lot of times I would do songs, and my grandma would call me and say 'Now, you know that used to be my song back in the day. That was my jam.' So, you know, you pick songs that everybody can relate to."

> On riding the Idol fame train:

"... Even after you win, you choose to stay, or you choose to go. And, you know, I choose to stay because they take good care of me, and we've been, you know -- we've done a lot of things. If I don't want to do it, I can say 'No.' You know, they'll say, 'If you want to do it, then it's here for you. If not, we can take it, and we will move on.' So it's not like that at all. It's -- after you win it, it's your -- it's your train. You take it, and you ride it how you want to ride it. "

> On future acting ambitions (who she'd like to portray):

"I'm going to play Debbie Allen way better than she plays herself. I want to play Debbie Allen ... So watch out for me. The next movie, I'm playing Debbie Allen."

Posted at 08:00 AM/ET, July 17, 2006 in American

"But she doesn't deserve a biopic! WAAH! "... I can hear it all now.


Hope this turns out good.