One girl’s dream is coming true
Last year, Jennifer Hudson‘s options were running out.
Her 15 minutes of “American Idol” fame were waning. She was spending her days in a recording studio with “random producers,” singing songs for a yet-undetermined audience.
But she still had her voice – the stirring, gospel-tinged instrument familiar from “Idol.”
“I just didn’t give up,” Hudson says. “I knew it was something in store, but I just didn’t know when.”
It only took a few months for her to find out: the pivotal role of the temperamental, tragic Effie White in the big-screen production of the ‘80s Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,” loosely based on Diana Ross and the Supremes.
Though the movie (opening today) stars Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Beyonce, it’s the 25-year-old Hudson, making her feature film debut, who’s sparking Oscar talk.
“I can’t believe my name is even mentioned in the same breath as that,” she says. “It’s beautiful to hear these things … (but) you don’t want to get your hopes up too high.”
Hudson wasn’t on a shortlist of candidates for Effie, but a very long one – about 800 names long. The competition included Fantasia Barrino, who won the “Idol” crown in 2004, the year Hudson, considered the early favorite, was booted by viewers in the later rounds.
“Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon, an “Idol” fan, wasn’t sure Hudson had what it took to play the big-voiced, hefty lead singer who gets shunted aside for the petite, pretty backup.
“Effie is a larger-than-life character who is almost a force of nature,” Condon says. “There was an element of owning every room that she walked into, of forcing you to pay attention only to her, that (Hudson) still was a little tentative about it.”
But Hudson hired an acting coach the moment she got the audition and practiced her lines every night with her boyfriend. She eventually won the filmmakers over.
More voluptuous than heavy, she added considerable pounds to her 5-foot-9 frame. And when it came time to perfect the tightly choreographed dance steps, Hudson worked overtime to get her act in Beyonce-like form.
“That was the most challenging part for me across the board, hands down, because I’m not a dancer at all,” she says. “I don’t care how many times I do it, I will never get used to it.”
But she hardly seems like she’s struggling on screen. She not only holds her own with all those boldface names, she overtakes them with her sassy, heartbreaking portrayal.
“I think she realized the opportunity of it,” says Foxx. “She realized if she gets this right, she had to know her life is going to change.”
It already has; Arista Records signed her to a contract. And the newfound attention is a far cry from her initial brush with fame.
“On ‘Idol,’ I didn’t have a personal makeup artist and a stylist and hairdresser and a publicist – that makeup artist was 11 other people’s makeup artist, OK?” she says.
“Here, it’s a whole new world, it’s different. I mean, ‘Idol’ gave us a taste, a taste, a sample of it. This, I get the whole plate. I got a buffet!”
The birthday bunch
Singer Jimmy Buffett is 60. Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 58. Actress Sissy Spacek is 57. Singer Annie Lennox is 52. Singer Shane McGowan (the Pogues) is 49. Singer Dido is 35. Singer Mac Powell (Third Day) is 34. Country singer Alecia Elliott is 24.