Jennifer Hudson was discovered by “American Idol,”In her first film role, she won an Oscar “Dreamgirls,” she’s a Tony away from EGOT status, and she landed a role of a lifetime as Aretha Franklin in “Respect,”A part that was hand-picked by Queen of Soul. So where is she going to take her career next.
She really hopes to be a director with any luck. Some day.
“I’m going to sound cheesy, but I’m really grateful, and I want to be able to continue to do what I love to do. And I’m getting to do that. Maybe one day direct,” Hudson told ’s Sharon Waxman as part of an awards screening of “Respect”Thursday, Los Angeles: The Landmark Theatres “You take a little step, one step, one day at a time, and I learn as I go.”
What exactly is she trying to do?
“I don’t know! Yet! But I think I would like to,”She spoke. “I will take baby steps, learn as I go, and then one day, I will love to direct something. What? I don’t know yet. But one day, I will.”
Hudson says that with each project she’s taken on she’s learned a bit more and is eager to develop on the fly. On “Respect”She got to view the project through an executive producer’s eyes, and she was able on “Dreamgirls”Jamie Foxx made a joke about how green she was in the industry, despite her immense talent.
The part in “Respect”Hudson’s role was a long-time dream. Franklin selected Hudson for the role. Hudson even auditioned. “American Idol” with a rendition of Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me.”Hudson was 22 years old when she performed on “Idol,”She compared the performance to Franklin singing the same song at the exact same age, and she was able to revisit it. It made her realize that she couldn’t just be Jennifer singing in “Respect,” but she also couldn’t just do an impersonation of Franklin either.
“Our instruments are built differently but can lend to the same thing,”She explained. “It ended up being, allowing her musical influences she’s had on me to come through, while allowing her structures, her technique, her nuances that are so familiar to us and interpret it in that way. And also making sure that whatever music she was singing, gospel was always the base. And playing her, the faith always had to be present.”
To that end, Hudson even learned how to better play the piano in order to truly appreciate Franklin’s craft (“Aretha plays, I peck”She was able to learn from the experience and become a better singer. The singing is not over. “Respect” was all live, and any song she performed couldn’t just be as a singer but as an actress.
“As a singer, a song is just a song. But as a film, no, it’s a narrative. It’s telling the story. And there’s an arc within the age as well. And thinking of whatever the circumstances and what’s the subtext of the song in the context in this scene and the context of this moment,”Hudson spoke. “I was thinking I was going to walk into set and be Jennifer, and express myself in these scenes. But this is Aretha. Women didn’t exist in this way at that time. Women weren’t allowed to take up space. They weren’t allowed to express themselves and speak their mind.”
Hudson realized after meeting Franklin, that she was a “strong presence”Around her, but that she had a “silence”she was also. Hudson felt the pressure of Aretha’s generation in trying to get inside the performance and unpack its many layers.
“How do you tell that story with minimal words where people can still understand the story and you’re not really even speaking? Whereas I walk in and I’m like I want to tell the story, this is how I feel, this is what I want to do. No no no, this is the ’60s women weren’t allowed to take up space. They couldn’t speak their minds in the way we can today,”Hudson spoke. “It has to come from her perspective.”
Watch the clip from ’s discussion with Jennifer Hudson talking “Respect” above.