“Years ago, I got a message from Tommy Mottola asking me to work with ‘his baby,’” says Spivak. “Before I could respond, I read that they’d split up. So now I’ll finally get the chance to coach her, at least in this article.” On that note we popped Glitter into our DVD player, and Spivak dispensed these pearls of wisdom.

SCENE: Opening sequence in the club
“She looks uncomfortable,” says Spivak. “Singing is so different from acting. Singers present themselves to the audience directly. Stage actors are supposed to forget the audience is there, putting up what we call the fourth wall. Film acting is even worse. There is no audience at all, just the film crew. She’s so aware of the audience. Mentally, she hasn't gotten off the stage.”

SCENE: Max Beesley charms her
“I can see she’s nervous,” says Spivak, watching the scene. “He’s full of action and desire, but she’s not performing with him. Acting is an ensemble art. You don’t do it all by yourself like singing. She’s more interested in how natural she is. Novice screen actors are told to ‘keep it small and natural,’ but what they really need to do is compress expression. The result is so small, the other actors in the scene try to compensate.”

SCENE: She watches Beesley talk with a club guy
“While the guys talk, she’s supposed to be intent on their conversation. But she’s all self-awareness. The director is telling her to stay in position; the hair person is making sure she looks right. Glitter was so much about hair. Someone clearly ran in between takes to make every strand perfect. In every scene she's worried about it, touching it. I think she’d be more interesting if they didn’t try to make her beautiful. Worrying about your look cuts into a performance. Halle Barry isn’t fixing her hair."

SCENE: Mariah tells Beesley about her estranged mother
“He has his attention focused, but she’s not really sure what she’s supposed to be doing. It’s like a first-time acting class. It doesn’t matter what you do with your hands, your face. Audiences will respond to what’s really happening with you emotionally. You have to surrender to the character. This should be a confession. Instead it’s just melancholy. That’s why the camera moved to Beesley’s face. He’s working out her sadness in his expression.”

SCENE: Beesley tells her off
“I feel for him, he’s really working,” Spivak says. “Maybe this film ruined him. I think Mariah Carey ended his career. All of her lines and gestures are the same thing.”

SCENE: She finds out Beesley is dead
The other characters in the room react first, then the camera cuts to Carey for maybe five seconds before cutting away to the final concert scene. “That’s about all we’re gonna get,” says Spivak. “The director is more comfortable having Carey work out her pain on a stage, which has been done a thousand times before. If she was coached through Glitter, I feel like the rule was ‘This is good enough,’ but clearly it wasn’t.”

Tennessee screens at Tribeca starting Apr 26.