Night has 'Ray' of light
Pic's star Foxx emcees after-party
-Variety. By BILL HIGGINS
Wed., Oct. 20, 2004, 9:33pm PT

HOLLYWOOD -- First came the Oscar heat, now comes the premiere: "Ray," with Jamie Foxx's apparent nom-lock perf, launched Tuesday at the Cinerama Dome.

U marketing prexy Adam Fogelson didn't sound too worried about Oscar heat radiating too soon for the pic's star.

"We've done nothing to stoke the buzz for Jamie," he said. "That happened on its own. If it were marketing driven, I'd say: 'Too much, too fast.' But this is happening completely organically."

"I'll take the buzz," helmer Taylor Hackford said. "This is a film that four months ago didn't have a distributor. When we were filming, there were days when I didn't know if we'd have the crew back the next day."

As for Foxx, he drew all the heat at the Palladium after-party: Acting as emcee, he called the filmmakers on stage, then urged the crowd to dance through the rainsoaked evening.

"I'm just a supporting actor," said Foxx. "Ray Charles is the star."

Among those on hand were NBC U's Bob Wright, Ron Meyer, Stacey Snider and Mary Parent; producers Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin and Karen Baldwin; plus guests Phil Anschutz, Janet Jackson, Prince, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Smokey Robinson, Jim Caviezel and John Singleton.