Jennifer Hudson

Our thoughts and prayers surround the entire Hudson family due to the tragic loss of Jennifer’s mother, brother and nephew. This article was written prior to their shocking and untimely deaths.

It is our sincere desire that the mercy and peace of God comfort and keep them during this time of personal grief and deep sorrow within their community.

We are all saddened by this tragedy and pray for justice and complete resolution.

Jennifer Hudson’s Sweet Success

Dreams still abound for Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, Sex and the City) who costars in director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Secret Life of Bees.  Taken from the best selling novel of the same name, Hudson inhabits the role of Rosaleen, a determined domestic and field worker, caught between the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement and the maternal love she feels toward a 14-year-old white southern girl, Lily (Dakota Fanning).

Hudson says her character and Fanning’s were bound together by shared needs. “They both have a struggle: Rosaleen wants to be acknowledged as a human being while Lily is looking for a mother. So where one is weak, the other is strong.”

Given that neither actress could reference the 1960’s from personal knowledge, Prince-Bythewood tried to create an environment steeped in the period. “Only 60’s music was allowed on the set — a lot of Motown,” says Prince-Bythewood, who would not even allow modern music in her own car on the way to work.

Adding another layer of reality, Prince-Bythewood put Hudson and Fanning through a staged re-enactment at a local drug store; an effort to recreate aspects of the Civil Rights era to help set the mood, however, she didn’t inform them of what was going on. 

Vividly describing that experience in detail, Hudson recalls, “Oh my God, it was quite a scene!  It was during the first week of production when we arrived in North Carolina.  I had to do so much research and look at all types of footage and DVDs; I even went on You Tube to find whatever I could.  I had the chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement and went back to the days of slavery to get deep into the history, so, the only image I had of the South was of people being lynched, people being hosed and beaten, violently.  Of course, no one wants to go to the South with those images in mind and once I got there, I didn’t want to go anywhere.  Even in the room at the Boatwright house (where Rosaleen and Lily slept) made me uncomfortable --it felt as though I was on a plantation in the master’s house-- that’s how deep I had gotten into my character because during that time, that’s how bad things were.” 

She continued, “The trip to the drug store was our first outing and I was told by Gina to meet Dakota at a specific location.  I asked her what was going on and she told me I would see when I got there.  So we get there and Gina gave us some money to go in and purchase specific items.  Before going into the store, Gina looked at me and said, ‘Whatever you do Jennifer, don’t hit anybody.’  So I said, ‘Golly, why would I hit anyone?’  Well, we go in the store and Dakota is grabbing items while I went to get a birthday card which was on the list of things to buy.  I asked the store clerk where the birthday cards were and he pointed, ‘Over there,’ and just tossed me off.” 

She digressed, “All of the cards in the store were of white images, by the way.  Anyway, I noticed that ‘Queen Dakota’ had like five clerks helping her and she didn’t even have to make a move and I’m like (getting animated) ‘Why is she getting all this service and I’m being treated like this?’  I said, OK, fine.  I’ll find them myself.  Then I went over to look for batteries and the clerk in that area said to me, ‘I could have sworn you’ve already been over here looking for batteries.  As a matter of fact, I think I saw you put some batteries in your pocket ... you did.  Empty your pockets!’   I couldn’t believe it!  Was he serious?!!  Dakota said to him, ‘You didn’t ask me to empty my pockets.’  He said to her, ‘Everybody emptied their pockets,’ and I said to him, ‘Well you empty YOUR pockets!’” 

Hoping to lessen the blow of the insults, Hudson and Fanning thought they’d change the pace of things and decided to get some ice cream.  She reflects, “We went into the parlor and the clerk said, ‘She can’t be in here.’  I looked around and said, ‘Who is she talking to because she can’t be talking to me?’  I sat down at the counter and there’s this white man sitting next to me eating.  He looks at me, turned to the clerk and said, ‘Can you get this nigger out of here?  I’m trying to eat my food!’  I rose up and said, ‘wait a minute’ and the next thing I could hear in my head was Gina saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t hit anybody.’   Of course, at this point, I’m ready to swing.  Then we were told it was staged.  Even so, that was hard and it was a shock, especially when that person turns around and wants to take a picture with me.  Acting or not, who wants to stand there and take that? It was hard to take in.”

According to Hudson, (Gina) Prince-Bythewood was clear about her vision for the Rosaleen character (in the film) that is different from the character in the book written by acclaimed best-selling author, Sue Monk Kidd. 

“Gina advised me that she didn’t want to have the stereotypical ‘Aunt Jemina’ caricature, ‘Mammie-ish’ prototype of what the people were like during that era; she wanted something different which was totally fine for me because I just wanted to deliver it in the best way that I possibly could.”

Acknowledging the impact of those exercises --and the historical research she did on her Performance-- Hudson says she developed an overwhelming sense of gratitude at being young today. “I was sitting watching a little white girl and a little black boy reading a book together recently and I thought ‘Wow that would have been illegal 50 years ago.’” She adds, “You have to know where you’ve come from to know where you’re going and you need to know what mistakes you made, so you don’t make them again. This was a part of our history.”

Intricate to the arc of this story is Rosaleen’s determination to register to vote.  Comparing the parallel of her character being physically attacked on the way to vote and the fact that she sang the national anthem at this year’s Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama became the first black person to head a major ticket as candidate for the presidency of the United States seemed pre- ordained.

“First of all, performing for such an event was unbelievable.  Also, to be able to witness it and to be a part of it and sing --I had to remove myself emotionally-- because of what I went through to develop Rosaleen and what I learned from that experience.  Although it was a character in a movie, as Jennifer, I was still standing there being beat up for exercising my right to vote and to turn around months later and be singing for a possible African American president was unbelievable.  The Bees film experience made it (singing at the DNC) have more value to me --and, to see this day come-- because after all, it wasn’t that long ago when blacks did not have the right to vote.”

Being a native Chicagoan (Obama’s and Oprah’s city of residence) punctuated the historical moment for Hudson as well.  Asked what is it about the Windy City she effused, “I guess it’s in the water (laughter).  I don’t know what it is but I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

Speaking of Oprah, the two formed a special bond following Hudson’s Dreamgirls trek and their friendship continues. “I went to see her not too long ago and people don’t do that too often.  I think I’ve been on the show about three times now and her people always tell me that I can come over whenever I’d like.  Nobody takes people up on those offers unless they want something and I don’t need anything; I just want to go over and say hello.  So I just called one day and asked to come over to see her.  She thought something was wrong and asked me if I was okay?  She said, ‘Nobody just comes in and says, ‘hello.’  I told her I just wanted to stop in and she how she was doing.  Yes, she’s definitely a huge support and someone I clearly admire.”

Circumspectly, I asked Hudson what it is like to be a single woman, an Oscar winner and continue to date with all that she’s achieved and she graciously obliged, “I don’t know …regardless of whom I meet and how I meet them or when I meet them, I just try to be Jennifer.  That’s the only person I know how to be.  First, someone may see ‘Jennifer Hudson’ but then I want people to know the person and that’s what I try to give no matter where I am, everyday and all day; to me, it kind of separates ‘me’ from ‘the image of me’ and this is who you’re getting to know and getting to see; that’s all I’m going to give you and it helps to balance things out.”
Days after our interview, Jennifer announced her engagement to boyfriend David Ortunga (the two have been dating for nearly one year), who is best known as "Punk" on the VH1 reality show "I Love New York 2." 
Some two weeks later, she released her highly anticipated debut album with Clive Davis for Arista records. 

On October 17, The Secret Life of Bees opened in theaters from Fox Searchlight Pictures. 

Queen Latifah

Dakota Fanning

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Secret’s Success
Leading Ladies of the new movie
“Secret Life of Bees”
Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning
and Gina Prince-Bythewood

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is the touching story about the need for love, sisterhood and redemption that explores the undeniable desire for a sense of belonging and the often daunting journeys that we must navigate to achieve it.

Starring Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo, BEES is set in South Carolina, the home of the intelligent and independent honey-making Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Keys and Okonedo) is suddenly thrust into upheaval with the arrival of fourteen year-old Lily Owens (Fanning) and her caretaker Rosaleen (Hudson).

Surrounded by the unexpected comforts, grace and deep rooted spirituality Lily (Fanning) encounters in the Boatwright home, she soon forms a maternal bond with each of these women whose unique and special gifts help reconcile the loss of her mother. Through the strength and female empowerment that embodies the Boatwright sisters, Lily ultimately comes to the realization that sometimes you must leave home in order to find it.

Owning and operating a successful bee farm and honey-making business, August Boatwright (Latifah) is the family matriarch running the household with a firm but loving hand with her sisters, the fiercely independent music teacher June (Keys) and the innocent childlike May (Okonedo).

The Boatwright sisters’ lives are disrupted when fourteen year-old Lily Owens
and her caretaker Rosaleen appear on their doorstep seeking refuge. After fleeing with Rosaleen to Tiburon, South Carolina, a place surrounded by mystery and a strong connection to Lily’s mother, they find shelter at the Boatwright household.

Lily is immediately taken under the wing of August Boatwright as her new beekeeping apprentice. There she is given a comfortable place to explore and, for the first time in her life, just be. Lily also discovers joy in the simple pleasures of life through her deepening relationship with the Boatwright sisters and soon comes into her own, determined to enjoy the sweet nectar of life for the first time. As a budding young woman who has left the place she once called home, Lily unexpectedly finds her true home and a family she has always yearned for.

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is written for the screen and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, HBO’s Disappearing Acts) and is based upon the award-winning novel of the same title by Sue Monk Kidd.

I spoke to Queen Latifah about her role in this enchanting film and the impact she continues to have in Hollywood --

Sandra Varner - The emotion of this role is a weighty one.  What I mean by that is your character, August Boatwright, is a strong-willed, independent entrepreneur with a nurturing demeanor.  Alongside those traits, your character had to deal with a number of complex issues set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights era.  How much did it help you to be who you are --as a person-- and to have to absorb this character?

Queen Latifah - Honestly, I think it helped me a lot to be who I am, you know what I mean.  I looked forward to playing all of the complexities of this character because I saw her as a woman who had a lot of different layers and I loved the fact that she didn’t just have to handle business in a way that often times we do.  You have to be strong; you’ve got to be willing to be a bitch sometimes, you’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to handle things sometimes.  You know what I mean?  I thought she was all those things but with a completely different demeanor in the way that she deals with a lot of things.  She’s sort of created a type of safe haven within her home and in her world that she lives within.  I also thought it was kind of nice that she accepted the responsibilities of her sisters, one of them who is way younger and another one is emotionally fragile.  She (August) is to me a person who --after her parents died-- has accepted her role in life and that’s how it’s going to be.  She embraced it and dealt with it.  This is who she is and she doesn’t have to “go out” and change the world.  She’ll handle the atmosphere around her.  

Varner - There was so much emotion in the scene when May dies.  In your preparation for that scene, did it take you back to your brother’s unexpected death (in 1992 in a motorcycle accident)?

Queen Latifah - At this point, I really didn’t have to go too deep into my brother’s experience to bring up that level of grief.  Strangely enough, I was so present in this movie that I didn’t have to work that hard to “get there.” There was so much going on in my personal life [during the time of shooting this film] I felt as if this film was my refuge; it was my safe haven and where I wanted to be; those ladies were my sisters and those younger actors felt like my godchildren.  It felt like my family and it (the environment on the set) was something that just got into my head and into my spirit.  Actually, I had music to inspire my emotions.  Music can get me into a space pretty quick; I can play eight bars of a Clark Sisters (award-winning gospel recording artists) record and those harmonies --maybe because I’m musically inclined-- can have the same impact as if I would have sat for a while thinking about my brother’s death.  “August” goes through a lot but has to hold it in so she can uphold the others; she chooses to deal with her grief in a different way.

Varner - Enough cannot be said about the career you are enjoying and have enjoyed since your teenage years.  The fact that you seem to “own the breadth of who you are” and your success with the greatest of ease, breaking barriers and moving past parameters to create opportunities for yourself and others [and that] you appear to do so, effortlessly.

Queen Latifah - Well, I don’t know about e-f-f-o-r-t-less-l-y (laughter). 

Varner - It certainly comes across that way …

Queen Latifah - (Spoken modestly) I’m just good at lying (more laughter).  I think my parents really put a lot into me and my brother at a very young age.  They communicated a lot to us and made us learn how to read, well.  They insisted that we read the newspaper which made us aware of the world.  We got to ask a lot of questions and they explained a lot to us and had the patience to explain things to us. Also, my parents let us fall on our faces a lot and be ourselves.  My mom wanted me to dress more ‘girlie’ but she didn’t make me feel bad about myself.  She said, ‘OK, my daughter’s a Tomboy, she loves sports and as much as I want her to wear this skirt, even though she would probably not wear it right, go on and put some pants on.’  My father on the other hand never treated me like, ‘You’re a girl and you can’t do this or you can’t do that.’  As a matter of fact, one of his best friends was his sister.  He came up in a family of nine children: half boys, half girls, and all of them strong.  So I think that background made them that way because both my parents grew up in a big family with a lot of fairness and they passed that on to us, allowing us to just be ourselves.  I failed at a lot of things early in my life and I realized I could recover from it.  I was rejected many times and realized I wasn’t going to die as a result of being rejected.  So, it was like, ‘OK, since I know that I can get over these emotions I’m not afraid to put myself out there so much.’  I think when you learn how to fail and to handle it early, then you’re not afraid to fail and I think a lot of people don’t do things because they’re afraid to fail and to ‘not’ be good at a certain thing.  They don’t learn how to fall on their face or to fall on their ass and get back up or be told ‘No,’ or sorry, ‘not you,’ or make some really bad choices and recover from them.  I made some bad choices and I realized, ‘you know what, if I don’t choose to make decisions based on a place from love and not self-hatred, then I’m going to have a miserable life.’  So I got a lot of that done by the time I was 18, which was cool.  When my career starting kicking in, I wasn’t blowing my money on drugs and alcohol or stupid stuff like I could have been, coming from the hood; I wasn’t spending it all and not putting some away for taxes.  I didn’t feel like I had to be like everybody else because I had gone through all of that stuff.  I was the ‘popular girl’ and I was ‘the outcast’ and I went through all of that stuff by the time I was 18 so I could discover new things for the rest of my life.

I also sat with Dakota Fanning to talk about her role in this film --

(SV) - Talk about your “kissing scene” in this movie; was this your first one?

Dakota Fanning (DF) - Actually, I’ve had other scenes where I had to but this was my first serious kiss in a movie scene.  It was great and Tristan (Wilds) --of TV’s 90210 and HBO’s The Wire fame-- was the nicest guy.  We knew each other pretty well by the time we filmed that particular scene.  It was so key to the story and something that really drew me to the story-- the relationship between Lily and Zach.

(SV) - I am impressed by the maturity you brought to your character, “Lily,” portraying a young girl beyond her years (Fanning is 14 years old).  Did you feel a kinship to Lily?

DF - Yeah, I did.  I have lived with this story for almost four years and I’d been attached to the movie for almost four years while it was trying to get made.  So, when I first saw the film and seeing it all come together was so rewarding; to see “Lily” being brought to life from the pages of the book and the pages of the script as well --which so many people identify with-- was amazing. I always feel very close to my characters and especially to “Lily” because she went through every possible emotion in this film.  It was a challenge and a really fun challenge to get to portray that as an actress.

(SV) - Having known, of course, who Queen Latifah is and having the experience of working alongside her in this film, how did it (if at all) change your view of her?

DF - I had met her once before at “The Man on Fire” (movie) premiere and the next time I met her was the day before we started shooting the film.  I couldn’t wait because I knew in the story she was going to be so nurturing and so loving and so motherly.  You just had such a warm feeling from her on the set and you couldn’t help but smile and get a good feeling inside when you see her on the screen.  She is so talented and I was so fortunate to share a lot of scenes with her and that was great.  She finished filming like a week-and-a-half before I did and I felt this big hole on the set when she wasn’t there.  It was hard seeing her go and Sophie (Okonedo) go and Alicia (Keys) go; it almost felt like “Lily” felt seeing all the people she loved leave.

(SV) - Had you watched Jennifer Hudson on American Idol?

DF - Yeah, I had and I’m a big fan of Jennifer’s. We were in another movie together, Winged Creatures (directed by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker) but we weren’t in any scenes together.  I’ve always been a fan and we became so close on this movie.  She is so much fun and such a great actress.  Our characters were so close in this film and we became good friends in real life too.

Lastly, I spoke to the film’s director, Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, Terry McMillan’s Disappearing Acts for HBO)

Sandra Varner (SV) - There are several gut-wrenching scenes in this film, one in particular, the scene when Jennifer Hudson’s character (Rosaleen) is mistreated.  Would you comment on that?

Gina Prince-Bythewood (GPB) - Jennifer --I gotta say-- has no vanity; she does not care what she has to look like for a scene and she did her own stunts-- even in the fight scene. 

(SV) - I spoke to Sue Monk Kidd (the book’s author) about her trepidation at turning over “her baby” to you to write the screenplay and to direct this film.  She mentioned the two of you had many conversations.  What assurances and commitment did you give her?

(GPB) - Once I got the job I sent her an email letting her know how much I loved the book and that it was a very personal story to me and I indicated in that message why the book resonated with me.  I promised that I would take good care of it.  Then she wrote me back and said she had watched Love & Basketball (one of Prince-Bythewood’s celebrated films with Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard and Omar Epps) and she trusted that I would.  It’ a scary thing to take someone’s work, re-work it, and, even scarier to send it to them when I was finished.  I was more nervous about that than the studio or the producers.  It took her three days to respond to me and I worried the entire time thinking, ‘Oh my God, she hated it.’   Then she sent me this beautiful email saying how much she loved it and from that moment on we were talking by phone and so forth.  If I had a question about characters or dialogue she was the only person that I would go to and we just had a great back and forth.

(SV) - What is your biggest challenge as a screenwriter and director?

(GPB) - I have two little boys (ages 7 and 4) and trying to find a work-life balance.  My husband (Reggie “Rock” Bythewood of Biker Boyz, Get On the Bus fame) and I have tried to switch off movies because he’s also a writer-director; you can say that and it’s a great plan but life doesn’t work that way and this business doesn’t work that way.  So, trying to find a balance is hard.  We both took time off when we had the boys and since we’ve had them, I’ve tried doing other things like television and video but even with that, it had to be something that I was really passionate about.  Being three months away from your family got really surreal at one point because it’s just not a natural feeling.  Directing is so all-consuming that I had to be away or else I could not have been as focused; when they visited --which I needed for my soul-- I felt that guilt thing and was torn between spending 12 hour days on the set versus playing with them and having dinner together.  I mean, it’s a very hard thing as a mother to say that and it’s a very hard balance because you need your family --they need you-- but I also need to direct because this is what I love to do.  I wouldn’t be a good Mommy if I wasn’t doing what I love.  They can’t understand it all right now because they are so young but the good thing about being a writer-director is when I’m not directing, I’m at home writing and with them all the time.

(SV) - What was the most challenging scene to shoot in this movie?

(GPB) - May’s death: the water was freezing (the film was shot during the winter) and it was such an emotional scene.  Both Latifah and Alicia were channeling some pretty deep stuff in their performances [within that scene] and I wanted to be able to capture that … it was tough and not knowing if I had it or not because I only had one take with the main part when they dove into the water to get May’s body.  Given our budget and time constraints, we couldn’t shoot it again.

(SV) - This movie made me cry.  Did it make you cry?

(GPB) - You know, it doesn’t make me cry but when I watch it I can tell what moments, if I had nothing to do with it, would make me choke up.  Those scenes include: May’s death, when Lily feels she’s unlovable and; at the end of the film when T-Ray (Lily’s father) drives away; I get that choked up feeling in my gut and that’s the hardest thing. You know, this movie and Love & Basketball are films I can’t watch objectively.