MARIAH CAREY is desperate to start work on her new film TENNESSEE, after taking over the part from R&B rival JANET JACKSON. Jackson piled on the pounds to play a waitress in the film, but had to drop out after the project started interfering with her musical comeback. Producer, LEE DANIELS, who made MONSTER'S BALL, hand then turned to Carey after seeing her in a small movie role. Carey explains, "It was really great because I did this little independent film with MIRA SORVINO called WISE GIRLS. "He happened to see it and hadn't seen "the other one" (her film flop GLITTER), so it was really cool because doing that enabled more doors to open for me.
"I haven't begun shooting yet. I'm very excited about it!"