Oscar Award winner Jennifer Hudson is back on the big screen after her “Dreamgirls” catapult to fame and her role in this summer's ultimate chick flick “Sex in the City.”
The singer-actress is starring in the new film “The Secret Life of Bees” which tells the tale of a young girl growing up in the South in the early ‘60s who flees with her caregiver, played by Hudson, to a honey farm run by three sisters.
The film has a powerful cast of actresses including acclaimed child star Dakota Fanning, Oscar winner Queen Latifah, Oscar-nominated actress Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys.
“I can't believe I got to be one of those women in the film, which was very moving for me,” Hudson said. “Queen is so powerful, and then there's Alicia. These are people who I've been admiring – on the outside looking in – for so long, and then to be part of such a powerful project made it even more impactful.”
Buzz on the film is already acclaiming Hudson's performance, but the young starlet, who scored an Academy Award her first time out, told reporters that with a very capable director in Gina Prince-Blythewood, and an impressive story, it was easy for her to lose herself in her character.
“I didn't have an acting coach for this film; I just had Gina and the dialect coach. She allowed me to develop my own character. She explained what she needed and what she wanted and on (the) set I just followed her lead.”
In addition to Hudson's respect for Blythewood's guidance, she experienced the deep sense of reality that the director requires on her film sets – well as close as it can be.
“It was Tootsie Rolls,” Hudson said of the scene where her character does snuff. “I can't have that on my vocal chords. I don't smoke, drink, none of that. And I was dieting at the time, so I didn't want to eat the Tootsie Rolls or the brownies on the porch, but I had to do that (dip snuff). Everything had to be so real.”
Hudson had to actually fight with three men for scene and even touch a Junebug!
“I was terrified to do those things,” she said. “[For the movie,] we didn't cook the food; it was props, but she had us in cooking classes. That's how authentic and real she is of a director. It couldn't help but come out as a real project.”
Blythewood directed and wrote the screenplay for the film, based on the best-selling novel, which, in addition to being a coming-of-age story, takes on racism in the South at a very volatile time in American history, and the strength and faith of African American women. Hudson compared her work on the film set in an important time in the ‘60s to her appearance at the historic nomination of Barack Obama. The singer-actress expressed the sense of history she felt singing at the final night of Democratic Convention when Senator Obama became the party's presidential nominee.
“It amazes me to go back into that civil rights era and seeing where we've been and what we've been through and then fast forwarding to today and seeing where we are,” she said. “It makes me appreciate this time that much more; to witness it and also to be a part of it. It's very moving. Being on that stage and performing and singing the National Anthem, I had to remove myself emotionally. I didn't want to get too emotional. That's how overwhelming it would have been with the knowledge that I had in looking into the character and seeing what she went through and what we went through as a people.”
“We think, from where I stand, that nobody exists from that time anymore,” she continued. “There are plenty of people from that time still around. Was 50 years enough to make that change?”
One change Hudson said she's looking for is an increase in opportunities for African American actors; women in particular.
“It's a time of change right now,” she said. “We have so many powerful women right now, so why not?”
While Hudson is doing her part to progress Hollywood, she hasn't neglected her singing career. Hudson's self-titled debut CD hit shelves last week, with sales fueled by the lead single “Spotlight.”
“I don't believe in doing both at the same time,” she said of dividing her singing and acting time. “While I'm filming, the recording has to stop and if I'm recording, the filming has to stop. I don't like to split my focus. I like to give whatever performance my undivided attention. I want to put my best foot forward to whatever I'm performing.”
Still, Hudson admitted that she did a lot of singing on the set of “Secret Life.” After all, the cast also featured powerful songbirds Latifah and Keys.
“We would sit and sing together. It was fun. Whatever we happened to be humming that day; we'd hop on each other's song and keep singing. Whatever we felt, we sang. We were just passing time,” Hudson said. “We always had so much fun. This feels like a celebration of what we've done and that's the kind of energy that was on the set at all times.”
