By Nedra Rhone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s hard to imagine director Lee Daniels being intimidated. He has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but years ago when he approached the author Sapphire for film rights to a little book called “Push”, he was uneasy.

“I wanted it so bad,” said Daniels who claimed he slept with the book — a searing portrayal of an illiterate 16-year-old incest survivor with two children by her father — under his pillow. Daniels prevailed but he wondered, “What in your right mind makes you think someone would want to see a film about a 300-pound girl?”

The film, “Precious” arrives in theaters Friday and has garnered early praise and festival awards. The producers include Oprah Winfrey and Atlanta’s Tyler Perry, and industry buzz has cast a golden Oscar glow on the film’s two leading ladies. Mo’Nique takes on the role of Mary, a mother who makes Joan Crawford seem saintly. The outspoken actress, who currently films a talk show in Atlanta but was not available for an interview, deftly portrays a monster who transfers her lack of self-worth to her daughter in the form of vicious physical and mental abuse. As Claireece Precious Jones, 26-year-old newcomer Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe manages to bring elegance to one of the most downtrodden characters to hit the silver screen.

“Precious” is the kind of movie one might expect from the man who produced “Monster’s Ball” and “The Woodsman” and directed “Shadowboxer,” — films which respectively feature a racist, a pedophile and quasi-incestuous killers.

When “Push” was published in 1996, it too was shocking material, said Tarshia Stanley, associate professor of English at Spelman College and an expert on women in the media.

“At the root of this is a human story. It is about finding your humanity in a world that is not helping you do that,” said Stanley, acknowledging the challenge of bringing the book to film. “You don’t see characters like this very often. ... It could easily fall into exploitation and sensationalism. To keep that human quality about who [Precious] is, you have to be very careful.”

No one was more careful than Daniels, who initially trolled McDonald’s restaurants and welfare offices looking for a girl to play Precious. “If I had cast those real-life Preciouses, I would have been exploiting those girls and I would have felt like [expletive],” he said. In waltzed Sidibe, who at the time was a student at Mercy College hoping to become a therapist. Sidibe had only acted in college productions of "Peter Pan" and "The Wiz," characters that seem frivolous when compared to Precious, she said. For this role, she relied on her intuition. “I feel like I know this person,” Sidibe said. “I feel like I have met this person a hundred times.”

She nailed the audition and within an hour had a call back which consisted of chatting with Daniels about everything from cake to sunglasses. “I wanted to know her as a person and I wanted her to understand me,” Daniels said. “I talk about my drug past, insecurities, my children, the Bible ...or whatever, until I download all of my thoughts and [the actors] are tired of hearing about me and they open up to shut me up.”

Sidibe opened up enough for Daniels to realize that she a) was not a real-life Precious and b) was very smart. If she and Precious have anything in common other than a physical resemblance, Sidibe said, it might be the moment when Precious looks in the mirror and pictures herself as a white girl.

“Growing up, I didn’t have the best self-image, and neither does she,” Sidibe said. “But I got older and the only person whose opinion mattered on me was my own.”

Still, Daniels’ greatest worry on the set was how to protect Sidibe. How would she fare day in and day out being called fat and ugly? In one scene, she is literally hit and knocked to the ground by a group of boys. “Mo’Nique and I would run to her after we cut to make sure she was okay, but she was so okay it wasn’t even funny,” Daniels said. He was happy on days when they were shooting the fantasy sequences, in which Precious imagines herself as a red carpet celebrity, a pop singer and a general diva, simply because it would give Sidibe a break.

As she muddled her way through the unfamiliar technical aspects of making movies, Sidibe appreciated support from fellow actors including Paula Patton, who plays Ms. Rain, the teacher who finally breaks through to Precious and helps her envision a better life. “I love Paula Patton,” Sidibe said. “She taught me to accept that I am an actress.”

Lately, there is no mistaking Sidibe’s celebrity status. She details some of her adventures on Facebook, including a photo shoot for German Vogue with Bruce Weber and Heidi Klum. The comments on the page reflect the positive impact Sidibe has had on people of all genders, ages and races in the role of Precious, but Sidibe said she can only be herself.

“For 25 years I’ve been living my life for me because nobody has been watching. Now things have changed, and it’s not an easy switch to get used to at all,” she said.

She has found the motivation to adjust to her new life close to home, she said. Sidibe has twin sisters who are 13 years old. They sleep in the same bedroom she slept in and they look just like her. “I have the opportunity to show them they can dream as high as possible and they look at me and they want to do it,” Sidibe said. “I feel so much pride being able to show them that.”