''Just remember,
the camera is the window to the soul...
I want to take my audience on a journey
into the mind's eye of the Spice Girls''

-- Alan Cumming as Piers, documentary director

A thriller, with a little romance and a lot of comedy, Spiceworld The Movie chronicles five crazy days in the Girls'' hectic schedule in the run up to their first live concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Fantastic adventures, dramatic chases and an all star cast combine to show us the kaleidoscopic world of the most extraordinary girls you are ever likely to encounter. As we hurtle through the metropolis on the trail of the Spice Bus from photo shoots to dance rehearsals, TV shows, glitzy parties and pounding night-clubs, we join voracious paparazzi, hordes of noisy fans, a bungling documentary film crew and even a tribe of starstruck aliens all struggling to stay hot on the girls' platform heels. Exploring the trials and tribulations of their global fame, Spiceworld The Movie catches the girls behind and in front of the camera and takes a satirical stab at the salivating media giants and commercial junkies who relentlessly compete to manufacture the girls success or demise....


They just haven't bargained for one simple thing...

Melanie B aka Scary Spice

''The character I play is quite close to the real me. Everyone's made up of different parts, and the loud, energetic part of me was the bit that came out in the film. I'm the one who says,do that! Let's do this! Come on!''

We had quite a lot of impact on the script, individually and collectively. It was important to have that input because we needed to believe in what we were saying so that we could get into it. A lot of the stories in the film were translated from events that actually happened to us. We told Kim all our stories and spent time with him so that he could really get to know us, and he took bits from all of us and linked it up. He knows what we like and don't like, so we trusted him to get on with it.

It was great doing the assault course with Michael Barrymore. We were all in army gear and we had to run along the course and swing across some water. We weren't supposed to end up in the water, but we all eventually did. And that meant we had to have a mud fight!

It was easy doing the argument scene because I just flicked on to that part of me and brought back the feelings of when I was last angry. Maybe I found it so easy because my life is one big drama anyway!

I messed around a lot on set and had quite a laugh with the crew. I got quite a few giggle fits, especially when I got my lines wrong. Who messed around the most? I suppose every one of us would say, "it wasn't me!" but I think we're all just as bad as each other.

Victoria aka Posh Spice

''The day we filmed our concert at the Albert Hall was the best day on the film for all of us, I think. It's such a great feeling getting up on stage and putting a smile on people's faces.

We loved the scenes where we per-form, because that's what the Spice Girls are all about. I liked it when we did Too Much because it's a great song, we all had nice white dresses on and there's a good dance to it. It's a real feel-good song. We filmed it at the TOTP studios, which was nice, because we always have a good time when we record TOTP.

I chose everything I wear in the film. There was one thing I didn't want to wear because I looked absolutely gross in it--a silly, horrible, unflattering army dress. But I wore it anyway. Apart from that, I loved my movie wardrobe.

It sounds really glamorous to be making a film, but most of the time you're just sitting around for hours and hours. There were a lot of early mornings and late finishes--it's just something you have to do. In my spare time I ate loads of cherries and mangoes and drank Diet Pepsi!

Melanie C Aka Sporty Spice

''The thing with The Spice Girls is that all our dreams have come true. We think -that if there's anything in the world that you can imagine you want to do., if you really want to do it, you can. We wanted to be pop stars and we were, so we thought, alright then, let's be movie stars as well! If you don't have a go, you never know.

I was very nervous at the start of the film because the only acting I'd ever done before was in school plays. I was a bit anxious about doing it professionally, especially with so many fantastic actors, so the first day was really daunting. But it was great. Richard E Grant was incredibly helpful and made us all feel at ease. The crew also made it easy, so once we'd started it was fine and we just had a laugh.

It was really good fun dressing up all the time. One of the best days was when we all dressed up as each other. Trying to be Victoria was a bit of a nightmare, though. I thought I was going to break her shoes as I walked along like a rugby player, wearing her little dress. It was quite funny behind the scenes because you'd go to say something to Emma, but Emma would be Victoria and it would really freak you out!

Emma aka Baby Spice

''If I'd been playing someone else, I suppose I would have done loads of research into how my character would walk or talk, but because I was playing myself, I just had to go into work and be me. Obviously I had to go through my scenes and lines and think to myself, How would I say that? But that was about it.

A lot of the scenes are true, although perhaps they're shown in a different way. And some of the film has actually come true since we did it - like the scene where we're all at Spice Camp in a big House, going for dance lessons, which is exactly what we've been doing to prepare for our concerts.

I hated the early mornings on the film. I'm the kind of person who likes getting up late and going to bed late. Still, it was very exciting to be doing something so different. I think maybe when we get dressed up for the premiere and walk along the red carpet knowing that everyone's here to see our film, then we'll feel like movie stars. But when you're in make-up looking like a pig-dog in the morning and someone's telling you that you've got to be on set in five seconds, you don't feel at all glamorous. I often sat there thinking, I couldn't do this all my life. We worked very hard and there were lots of not very glamorous moments, like failing asleep on the sofa, or doing an army assault course.

One day I did a wicked stunt where I had to beat up three male karate experts, throw one of them over my shoulder and another one over my head. I did it all myself!

Geri aka Ginger Spice

''I worked very closely with Kim Fuller on the script for about two months before we started shooting. Even when I was on holiday in Bali I was spending hours on the phone trying to get it all sorted and make sure it was right. Okay, everyone changed a couple of words here and there, but no-one felt the situations they were in were wrong. That was the main thing.

I think the film shows that Girl Power is a liberating force. It's all about equalisation of the sexes. A man shouldn't feel intimidated by a strong woman. It's not domination, it's a celebration.

Making the movie felt like giving birth to a baby. If anyone had asked me to make another film immediately after we'd finished shooting, I would have said no. But as time goes on you forget the pain and think, yes, I'd do it again!

GirlPower

A host of well-known acting talent joins the crazy Spice Bus chase across town. Richard E Grant plays the Girls; neurotic, unhinged manager; Roger Moore is the cool, unshakeable chief; Claire Rushbrook of Secrets and Lies fame is the long-suffering assistant, Deborah. And Alan Cumming as documentary director Piers is forever stumbling over trailing boom wires and goofy soundmen in his disastrous attempts to keep ahead of the girls and keep a handle on the Spice phenomenon.

And the girls? Well, they just can't wait to Spice up the whole......

The Stars


The Spice Girls (as themselves) are Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) and Victoria Adams (Posh Spice). The Spice Girls, with the late addition of Emma, first got together in 1993 after responding to an advertisement in the UK theatrical paper ''Months of rehearsals, songwriting, recording and dancing then ensued and in March 1995 they signed up with their current manager Simon Fuller. In August 1995 they signed with Virgin records. In July 1996 their first single Wannabe was released and within seven days they made UK chart history as the first all-girl band to go to Number-One with their debut single. They then made American chart history as the first UK act to go to Number-One with this debut hit. They were also the first British act to have their debut album go to Number-One in the US. Wannabe has now been Number-One in 31 countries and has sold in excess of 4 million copies world-wide.

The Girls next three singles,Say You'll Be There, 2 Become l(both of which stormed to Number-One in 52 countries) and the double A side Mama/Who Do You Think You Are all went to the top of the chart, and the Girls broke more records as they became the first band ever to go to Number-One with their first four singles. Within 365 days they had revitalised the pop industry, and Girl Power, the key concept in Spice Girls philosophy, had become the catchphrase of the nineties.

To date they have sold over 10 million singles world-wide and their debut album Spice, which went triple platinum within three weeks of release, has notched up world-wide--sales of over 19 million. They recently made the Guinness Book of Records with seven entries, the most ever for a newcomer.

October 1997 saw the release of the single Spice Up Your Life which became their fifth Number-One hit, followed by Too Much and the second album Spiceworld The Movie in November 1 997. The movie will be released all over the world in late December and in early January 1998 and the Girls world domination will continue well into the year with their first world tour.

With world-wide popularity, a fan club of millions and an absolutely indisputable ability to sing and dance, the Girls have unquestionably placed an indelible lipstick kiss on Pop history. But when it came to the silver screen the question hovering on everybody else's lips was the same....
Yes sneers Graydon but can they act
Bob Spiers had no doubts they were all capable of pulling the film off: in his experience, he says, very often good performers are good actors.And true to form the Girls took it all in their stride, effortlessly mastering the difficult task of playing not only their public personas but imbuing these with their natural dynamism and individuality. Uri Fruchtmann agreed with Bob Spiers that not only are the Girls very energetic and exciting to look at but they have vibrant personalities and tremendously strong characters which make them great for their parts.The thing that makes them special, says Barnaby Thompson is that the audience connects to them, they are their personalities, and indeed as the Girls break down the conventional distance between actor and audience with their unprompted and unaffected openness, the film itself assumes their uniquely direct and candid charm. Indeed, significantly at the very end of the films the Girls tap on the screen itself and say hello to the cinema-goers, smiling and chattering with characteristic warmth.