Welcome to their World

Spice Girls' master plan for global domination

NEW YORK -- Apparently, making a movie was part of the Spice Girls' master plan for world domination from the beginning. Spice World is merely the latest step in the heavily hyped British bubblegum quintet's conquest of all media, from records and picture books (and merchandising, from potato chips to wallpaper) to their upcoming six-month world tour.

"We actually decided it about four years ago," Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) says of the film, "when we got together and were living together and were managing ourselves. We had all these things we wanted to do. We wanted to release an album. We wanted to talk about our own opinions. We wanted to be the positivity to young kids. To finally be able to do it now and see it on the big screen is such an achievement for us because it wasn't an overnight thought."

Still, there have been some speed bumps along the way. Sales of their second album, Spice World, have been slow in America. The British tabloids have been digging for dirt (not hard to find in the case of Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, who used to be a nude Page 3 model in the tabs). Each of the five has had a supposed ex-boyfriend sell a story to the media. In November, the band fired manager Simon Fuller (who helped orchestrate their rise to stardom and whose brother, Kim Fuller, is Spice World's screenwriter); they still won't say why they fired him or who is managing the band now. (They insist it's not Geri, who is nonetheless clearly the leader and the most spin-conscious of the five.)

The film is clever enough to poke fun at the quintet and their problems. "I wouldn't even call it problems, actually," says Geri. "That movie really is a piss take. We're making fun of the whole situation. We never see problems and negativity. We just turn it into humor and positivity."

"As for the backlash," says Mel B, "there's always going to be critics out there who find it very hard to digest that five girls are up there managing themselves. We've managed ourselves twice before, and we're doing it again. Some critics, especially if you're male, find it quite undigestible."

The Spice Girls display more personality in person than on screen. Geri is the most gregarious, followed by Mel B, Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) Bunton, Victoria Adams (Posh Spice), and shy Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice). In real life, they don't rely on fashion statements to emphasize their individuality; at the interview, Geri and Victoria are even wearing the same leather sheath dress. "If you think about the '90s anyway, whether it's music, whether it's fashion, whether it's film, anything goes," says Geri. "There's no set code anymore. I think that's really brilliant. That's what the Spice Girls is about. Maybe if you want to read between the lines, you see the statement is that you don't have to conform to any particular genre. You can just be your individual self, and you can still stand together." ("Oh, dear," groans Mel B.)

The Spice Girls want to be squeaky-clean role models, despite their short skirts and Wonderbras. Says Mel B, "If you look at us five, we're quite normal. We're not some six-foot-tall skinny model who's got, like, an eating disorder." "We get spots. We've got fat bums," Emma chirps in." Mel B goes on, "So I think it's quite healthy for kids to look at us and think, `Well, you can make the most of yourself.' If you want big hair, have big hair. If you want to wear your trackies [gym clothes], wear your trackies. I think sexiness should come from within, anyway."

The movie is certainly sex-free, even kiss-free. "That's because we don't kiss anyone," says Mel B. "That's the reality of our week."

Did the desire to keep the movie PG restrict the romance quotient? "No," says Geri, who is loudly interrupted by Mel B: "Yes, I wanted a sex scene with Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, but I got, `No!' "

Explains Geri, "You've only got 90 minutes. You can't squeeze in --," whereupon Mel B interjects, "And I'd be longer than 90 minutes anyway."

Does the movie offer any surprises about the Spice Girls for American viewers? "Hopefully nothing," says Mel B. "We're just the Spice Girls. Hopefully nothing will be like shock, horror, surprise."

"Victoria in the film is very funny," says Emma. "Her humor comes across, and that's brilliant, which a lot of people don't see."

For her part, Victoria says, "People have a lot of preconceptions about British people being quite into themselves and not up for taking the piss out of themselves. And that is one thing we really do, we send ourselves up. And that might be a surprise for people, how much we are up for that."

Geri concludes, "One thing I'm really proud of, when we entered the media arena, we've always claimed, `What you see is what you get.' We're not perfect."

-- G.S.

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