Gabourey Sidibe as Precious; image courtesy of moviedearest.blogspot.com

Before going into my thoughts on a movie that I already feel I’ll need to qualify and back into when composing my analysis, let me stress a few things.

1. I haven’t read Sapphire’s Push, which is the movie’s source material. Thus I can’t say how faithful an adapatation Precious is. I intend to read it, and welcome anyone who has a copy they’d be willing to lend to expedite the process. As you can imagine, it’s hard to find a copy at any of the local libraries right now.

Cover to "Push"; image courtesy of speaksista.com

2. I am a middle-class white lady, so I know I have some biases and blind spots. They may affect my analysis of the story about an abused, illiterate, fat, dark-skinned, HIV-positive black girl named Claireece Precious Jones living in 1987 Harlem during the height of the AIDS and crack epidemics who is placed into an alternative school called Each One Teach One after being impregnated by her father with their second child.

3. Regardless of the criticisms I’ll detail later in the post, I think you should see this movie. Yes, you. Especially those of you who are scared that its content will be too overwhelming, exploitative, or another cinematic example of poverty porn. If you care about the tenuous presence of African Americans in media culture, you should see this movie. If you care about the plight of marginalized groups, you should see this movie. If you are willing to back up these concerns with volunteerism, monetary contributions, or your industry, you should see this movie. And if you think that these kinds of personal and systemic hardships don’t actually happen to young people, you should definitely see this movie. While I agree with Teresa Wiltz and thus don’t abide by Oprah’s line that “everyone is Precious,” I’ve had too many friends and family members recount traumatic personal and professional experiences weathered by themselves, loved ones, peers, neighbors, and students to think otherwise. 

I always like to enumerate the positives first.

1. Gabourey Sidibe is an awesome find as the lead. And I know it belabors a perhaps insulting point that actors are not their characters, especially in a role author Sapphire intimated to Katie Couric would have been near impossible for any survivor to play, but I find it comforting that Sidibe is charming, proudly fat, and confident. It’s evident in her talk show appearances on Conan O’Brien that she’s got the approachable star power of an A-list celebrity (watch her delightful interview here, here, and here).

Here’s hoping that Sidibe’s performance will lead to further opportunities. I’d be so sad if she won an Oscar for this role, only to be sidelined by tokenistic casting practices. I already saw Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson light up the screen in Dreamgirls, only to play Carrie Bradshaw’s personal assistant (and imaginary friend?) in the Sex in the City movie. 

Hudson's Louise never mingles with Carrie's established friend group; image courtesy of nypost.com

2. Mo’Nique deserves the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Precious’s mother Mary, who neglects, emotionally bullies, and physically abuses her daughter. 

In addition to also allowing her partner (who we never fully see on-screen) to sexually abuse and twice impregnate their daughter, she also forces her daughter to engage in sexual activity with her, largely out of punishment for a gross, partriarchally-skewed misinterpretation of what consensual partnership is and should be. It’s a challenging, potentially damaging role that many actresses shied away from out of an inability to plumb terrifying emotional depths or out of an uneasy feeling that taking on this part could be misconstrued as promoting the idea that black women are sub-human.

To me, Mo’Nique does a superlative job negotiating how this woman is considerably flawed, morally compromised, and victimized by a system that encourages women of oppressed racial and economic groups to stay marginalized by over-relying on men, competing with other women and girls to keep undeserving men, keeping them bracketed off from educational and professional advancement, and convincing them that they don’t deserve better and neither do their children. While many people may gesture toward Mary’s knockdown fights with her daughter or her transparently fake show of domestic stability for visiting social workers as evidence of Mo’Nique’s powerful performance, I’d offer up scenes where Mary sits comatose for hours in front of the television or gives her profound confession about her daughter’s home life to social worker Ms. Weiss (played by Mariah Carey) at the end of the movie. These moments are informed by a series of photographs kept in a scrapbook that show Mary as a happy young woman in high school, with her partner, and her baby girl, and later distant and resentful of her, suggesting how mother and daughter came to their destructive relationship. In these moments, whether conveyed with glazed eyes, frozen in damning snapshot, or through a bewildered face made paler by make-up, we see a woman depressed and trapped. It becomes suggested that she is perhaps haunted by the same cycle of domestic abuse her daughter has lived through and at times as much victim as victimizer.

Screen shot from Mary's final scene; image courtesy of accesshollywood.com

3. As this was a concern for many skittish filmgoers of my acquaintance, I’ll say that from my perspective, I didn’t find this movie to be exploitative. Though I had issues with how director Lee Daniels would abruptly shift aesthetics and cinematic style, I appreciated that this movie wasn’t, say, all Dogme all the time. For one, surrealist flights of fancy is part of Precious’s coping strategy. For another, I think a movie that dwelled so much of the horror of the protagonist’s situation and environment would have veered the movie into exploitation, and may have also suggested that an authentic poor, black experience (whatever that is) necessitates aesthetic ugliness over compositional beauty. I found the unsettling moments to be handled sparingly, oftentimes providing a necessary jolt while also suggesting that Precious isn’t only her pain. The most effective moment for me was when Precious is given a reading tutorial by her teacher and, in a her embarrassment and frustration, returns to a particularly explicit memory of her father attacking her. Another noteworthy moment occurs when Precious is getting ready for school and sees a slim, blonde white girl staring back at her in the mirror — a chilling example of how girls of color may internalize normative standards of feminine beauty.   

4. Man, did I ache for Ruby, Precious’s young, inquisitive neighbor who is clearly another abused child and is seeking comfort and friendship with a girl who is too damaged to see a kindred spirit. Some people laughed at Ruby in the screening I attended, especially in one scene when Precious is running away from Mary with her newborn in hand and knocks the girl over. Fuck you, I say. My only hope is that somewhere, later, off the page and reel, Precious and Ruby reconnect. 

5. I’m assuming this is lifted from the book, but I was struck by how Precious is a proud and protective mother to children who, due to incest, are also technically her siblings. Watching her hold her mentally disabled daughter or breast-feed her infant son, I found myself confronted by how my own feelings about reproductive rights are informed by racial and class privilege and how the notion of “choice” is subjective. While I might personally be horrified at the thought of giving birth to children formed from prolonged familial abuse and would thus potentially remove our relationship, Precious views these children as her own. Mercifully, the movie does not judge her for feeling this way, and forced at least one (middle-class, white, female) filmgoer to think more critically about her politics.   

6. As this is a music blog, I found the incorporation of music culture to be applied to interesting effect here. For one, there’s Daniels’s decision to cast successful recording artists like Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, drawing out believeable and unassuming performances that belie their celebrity and attendent glamour.

Mariah Carey un-glams it up for Ms. Weiss; image courtesy of createdintheattic.files.wordpress.com

For another, there’s the soundtrack’s song selection, which emphasizes contributions from jazz, soul, and R&B artists, many of whom are women of color, perhaps a reflection on the majority of the movie’s cast. Some of the songs listed here are not period-appropriate and thus not heard in the movie, perhaps serving as inspiration and putting the movie and its source material in dialogue with generations of female artists. However, Mary J. Blige’s stirring “I Can See In Color” serves as the movie’s theme and is even featured in the scene when Precious finally flees her mother’s apartment. I hope she wins an Oscar too.

Then there was stuff that made me itchy in a bad way.

1. The opening credits are written in Precious’s semi-literate hand, then clarified through parenthetical notation. I don’t know if it was the result of studio meddling, but I found this borderline insulting. For one, it seems to imply that potential audience members can’t do basic decoding. For another, it undermines the protagonist’s particular system of written language, suggesting that it is improper, inscrutable, and in need of intervention from more literate, unseen sources. 

2. As suggested earlier, this movie is visually beautiful, but stylistically uneven. At times, this is a blessing. Other times, Daniels’ heightened visuals were annoying, making me think more about how the director executed a shot than what the protagonist was going through in the moment. While I’d have to read the book to determine whether this is true to the source material, I found the most distracting moment to be when Mary visits Precious in a half-way house after leaving home and reveals that her daughter’s father has AIDS. This news and its personal implications hit Precious instantly, but the movie detours into another fantasy sequence where the lead imagines herself at a glitzy premiere. While this may be true to how Precious processes this in the book, the scene in the movie seems to suggest more about the director’s power over the camera than the protagonist’s complex emotional responses to trauma. I would have prefered to stay with Precious in that moment, but maybe some feelings are off-limits to the viewer. It just registered to me as an icky moment of authorial control.

3. As others have noted, the variance of African American skin tones and how certain shades align with class positioning is a source of contention here. As Precious is a dark-skinned black girl, it would stand to reason that her family would match her skin tone. This potentially sets up a binary wherein all dark-skinned characters are poor and uneducated. While this is challenged by the presence of Precious’s classmates, who vary in terms of racial and ethnic categories, the binary is certainly abided by the social workers, who are educated, middle-class, light-skinned (often-multiracial) African Americans.

While Precious speculates about Mrs. Weiss’s background, the movie portrays her writing teacher, Blue Rain (played by Paula Patton), as a light-skinned, gay but somewhat desexualized, savior. If this isn’t clear within the narrative, the movie’s compositional elements make it explicit. How better to frame a middle-class, college-educated, light-skinned black woman teaching systemically disadvantaged girls than to cast a saintly glow around her through backlighting? In this way, as well as how Precious navigates intersectional identity politics, A.O. Scott makes a case for how the movie is similar to The Blind Side, the Michael Oher biopic starring Sandra Bullock as his affluent and plucky adoptive mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Patton's Blue Rain is Precious's light-skinned savior; image courtesy of nickelforathought.files.wordpress.com

3A. I felt like Precious’s Each One Teach One classmates could have been better developed. Perhaps this is a limitation of the format, as feature films don’t have the time to flesh out characters the way that television can. The Wire devoted an entire season to four pre-teen boys navigating the Baltimore public school system, following them until the end of the series’ run. If only more time and resources were given in movies and television to create complex, multidimensional characters who are girls of color. 

Precious with classmates Rhonda (Chyna Layne), Consuelo (Angelic Zambrana), and Rita (Stephanie Andujar); image courtesy of thankgodimfamous.com

3B. I’m curious as to how viewers might interpret the dearth of male characters. I know that Ralph Wiley voiced his concern about with the lack of sympathetic men in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple in “Purple With a Purpose,” an essay from Why Black People Tend To Shout: Cold Facts and Wry Views From a Black Man’s World. I wonder if similar criticisms can be made here. We only see Precious’s dad during traumatic flashbacks, and even then he’s almost entirely obscured by shadows (something I’m sure Richard Dyer would take issue with). Other than that, we have a nurse named John McFadden, played by Lenny Kravitz, who came across to me as kind of a jerk who thinks he can fix any problem with a serving of organic fruit or a greeting card filled with money. 

Kravitz's McFadden is well-meaning, if not a bit aloof; image courtesy of tapeworthy.blogspot.com

4. There’s also some characters who are left unexplained. One is a classmate of Precious’s in the Each One Teach One who breaks down for Precious the difference between the word “insect” and “incest,” supposedly for comic effect. That she’s one of a few white characters and coded as queer should be given more context.

Of greater concern to me is Precious’s grandmother, who takes care of her firstborn, Mongo, who has Down Syndrome. At no point is it made clear how she feels or what she knows about her granddaughter’s homelife or even what side of the family she’s on. I really wanted to know more about her and the relationships she’s cultivated within this extended family.

5. Finally, the movie suggests that Precious’s final scene is triumphant, again suggesting further similarity with The Blind Side. But it’s also a bit of a lie. The odds are still very much against her, as they would be for most semi-literate, economically disadvantaged, HIV-positive, teenage single mothers. Not impossible odds, and certainly better odds if her love of math was further nurtured, but long-shot odds that don’t often reflect statistically-supported realities.

Taking all of this into account, I’m heartened that movies like Precious are being made and hope that more media texts grapple with such subject matter and fund more projects with African American directors, actors, producers, and other personnel across racial and ethnic categories. The movie apparently broke $30 million domestically at the box office, which is no small thing for a $10 million indie covering such sensitive subject matter with or without Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry’s producer credits. While movie-going can hardly rectify systemic oppression, it can get us thinking about it and maybe (hopefully) work together toward fixing it.

Everyone has their own set of holiday traditions. So what do Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson like most about the season? The music superstars shared their holiday favorites with Oprah Winfrey.

Alicia Keys on her holiday past times: “We cook, and we play cards. We all sit around, and we catch up. You have hot apple cider, and you have the eggnog and all of the food.”

Alicia Keys on her favorite gifts: Love and a bolero jacket

Mary J. Blige on her favorite holiday song, “O Holy Night”: “It just says everything that Christmas is about: the birth of Christ and what we all do in church and out of church. We fall on our knees. That’s what the song is saying.”

Jennifer Hudson on her son’s first Christmas: “I kind of want to bring him his own Santa Claus and just have like a toy store in the house. It’s my warm-up for the years to come when he gets older and he can enjoy it.”

This blog is usally about the “crazies” that find themselves in the spotlight because they either said something really weird or has some strange ideas regarding Bracak Obama or the progressive movement.  Since this is the Thanksgiving holiday week-end, I wanted to do one more entertainment piece that I just read about.

Full disclosure:  I am NOT an Oprah fan.  I haven’t watched her show since the early nineties.  However, I AM a fan of Andre Bocelli (Time to Say Goodbye is one of my favorites.)  Mary J. Blige is my daughter’s favorite singer.  It will be interesting to see two such diverse people sing a duet on Oprah’s holiday show on Monday. I will definately record that show!

There’s more!  Alicia Keyes (huge fan here) and Country Western star Tim McGraw will also sing a duet!

Orlando Centinel:

Could it be that Oprah Winfrey wants in on Simon Cowell’s turf?Lady O staged that Karaoke Challenge. Now she has lined up a holiday show filled with duets for Monday.

You’ll see Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson with Sugarland.

Mary J. Blige with Andrea Bocelli.

Tim McGraw with Alicia Keys.

The Winfrey folks call it “our first-ever holiday duet extravaganza!”

Sounds like a good reason to tune in at 4 p.m. Monday on WFTV-Channel 9.

The Obama White House will host their first state dinner tonight in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Set to beginning in about half an hour, it looks like it will be a blockbuster event. Details about the dinner were closely guarded until just a few hours ago, but we now know that A.R. Rahman and Jennifer Hudson are set to perform and that the star-studded guest list will enjoy a very vegetarian-friendly meal. (The Prime Minister is a vegetarian.)

Dinner guests include prominent desis such as Fareed Zakaria, Sanjay Gupta, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kalpen Modi (aka Kal Penn), Deepak Chopra, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

The White House website will be livestreaming the dinner starting at 8:15 Eastern. I’ll be posting links to coverage of the dinner throughout the evening on Twitter.

Post your comments of tonight’s festivities below.

Jennifer Hudson tears into I Am Changing, from her press tour for Dreamgirls. The song’s caught my mind these days with me transitioning jobs. Oh the fun, but the sentiment is working for me.

Bring it Jen!

Ich weiß, ich bin spät dran diese Woche, SORRY! Es war soooo viel los, ich kam gar nicht zum schreiben. Also, fangen wir an:

Timbaland hat sein Album verschoben, es soll morgen erscheinen…

Ushers neues Album wird, festtagstauglich, am 21.12. veröffentlicht, Eminems Album “Relapse: Refill” erscheint am selben Tag…mit sieben neuen Songs und dem Bonustitel “Forever”, genau wie “Rebirt” von Lil Wayne und “We are Young Money” von Young Money.

Nivea hat ihr Kind noch nicht bekommen, auch wenn jede Website in der vergangenen Woche etwas anderes behauptet hat.

Ist das nicht krank, wie 50Cent sich in ALLES einmischen muss? Am letzten WE war er mit der Ex von Rick Ross unterwegs, am Tag zuvor gab er in einem Interview bekannt, dass ein “Face off” mit Jay-Z nicht schlecht wäre, es aber niemand überleben würde. WTF?

50, kümmere dich endlich mal um deinen eigenen Scheiss….Wo ist denn der Sinn dabei?

Eins steht fest, ich bin mit die Erste, die sich den Song “Radio (WTF)” von N.E.R.D. kauft

Lol, das Bild ist mal zu lustig. 50 Cent und seine Ex Vivica A. Fox drehen ja zur Zeit an seinem neuen Video (warum auch immer seine Ex die Rolle übernehmen muss…) und dieser Cartoon könnte ja vielleicht ganz treffend sein (Quelle: bossip.com)

Das ist doch mal ne coole Aktion. Mein 2. liebster Flash Mob fand am 14.11. in L.A. statt. Die größten Hits von Janet Jackson wurden getanzt und die gab sich sogar die Ehre auf dem Balkon.

Am 20. November veröffentlichte mein Lieblingsrapper der 90er Mase entweder 5mal das gleiche Mixtape in verschiedenen Versionen oder aber 5 verschiedene Mixtapes….

DMX wollte ja nicht mehr für MMA kämpfen, also wurde er glatt mal auf eine Million Dollar verklagt…uuuuups, hat er überhaupt Geld um das zu bezahlen???

Tracklisten für:

Alicia Keys “The Element of Fredom”

1. The Element Of Freedom (Intro)
2. Love Is Blind
3. Doesn’t Mean Anything
4. Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart
5. Wait Til They See My Smile
6. That’s How Strong My Love Is
7. Unthinkable (I’m Ready)
8. Love Is My Disease
9. Like The Sea
10. Put It In A Love Song feat. Beyoncé Knowles
11. This Bed
12. Distance And Time
13. How It Feels To Fly
14. Empire State Of Mind (Part II)

Young Money “We Are Young Money” (ab 21.12.)

1. “Bedrock” (feat. Lloyd)
2. “New Shit”
3. “Pass Me the Dutch”
4. “Wifebeater”
5. “Fuck the Bullshit” (feat. Birdman)
6. “Ms. Parker”
7. “Target”
8. “Sacrifice”
9. “Every Girl”
10. “She Is Gone” (feat. Pleasure P)
11. “Girl I Got You”
12. “Gooder”
13. “Roger That”
14. “Steady Mobbin’” (feat. Gucci Mane)

BTW: 50Cent war nicht zu Diddys 40. Geburtstag eingeladen, ALLE anderen schon!

Keri Hilson – I Like
Ein neuer Song zu “2Ohrkücken”

Jennifer Hudson wird Winnie Mandela im Film “Winnie Mandela: A Life” spielen.

Zur Zeit mein Lieblingstrack:

Focus, Busta Rhymes & Bishop Lamont - Shine (SP Soul Remix)

Have a nice week!!!!

 Vida da esposa de Nelson Mandela vai virar filme

Jennifer Hudson será Winnie Mandela nas telonas

A atriz Jennifer Hudson, premiada com um Oscar por sua performance em Dreamgirls – Em Busca de um Sonho, acaba de ser contratada como protagonista de Winnie, em que viverá Winnie Mandela, esposa do ex-presidente sul-africano Nelson Mandela.

O filme terá direção do sul-africano Darrell J. Roodt e será um drama sobre a história da controversa ativista, que lutou contra o apartheid ao lado de seu marido. O roteiro foi escrito por Roodt, Andre Pieterse e Paul L. Johnson, com base no livro biográfico Winnie Mandela: A Life, escrito por Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob.

Segundo a Variety, o filme contará a história toda – tanto o lado bom, do ativismo social, como o lado ruim, das acusações de fraude e corrupção que marcaram parte de sua carreira política. Fonte: Omelete.

The cast of "Nine"; image courtesy of newsinfilm.com

I saw Precious today and want to talk about it length, but need to process what I saw. I’d also like to get to Push, Sapphire’s book on which the movie was based at some point before the end of the year. For now, I’ll say this. I didn’t love it but I did like it, thought Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique were great, was heartened that my matinee screening had a good and diverse turnout, and think you should see it. But you may want to see it with someone and encourage your local theater to have a safe space where people can go if the movie becomes too intense or touches on frought emotions or horrible memories.

For the time being, I thought I’d mention the preview of a coming attraction. Nine, Rob Marshall’s screen adaptation of Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti, and Maury Yeston’s musical (itself an adaptation of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2), comes out next week. You can view the trailer here.

So, I know very little about this musical. I only recently discovered the origins of its source material, which I haven’t seen (though, based on my less-than-enthusiastic viewings of La Dolce Vita and I Vitelloni don’t hold high hopes for it, unless Fellini allowed for self-deprication in his autobiographical film the way that Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz, a movie of a similar mold that I love). Beyond that, I knew Raul Julia starred in its Broadway debut back in 1982, the original production won many Tonys, and once heard someone sing “Unusual Way” at a family friend’s wedding, which is a really cryptic song choice for such a ceremony.

As for the film adaptation, I know the players. Rob Marshall directed Chicago and is at the helm here. Daniel Day Lewis plays Guido Contini, a tortured director. The women who populate his life are considerable — Marion Cotillard plays his wife, Penélope Cruz his mistress, Nicole Kidman his muse, Stacey Ferguson (aka Duchess Fergie Ferg) a whore he once knew, and Kate Hudson a fashion writer whose character has a song that was written for the movie. Oh, and Judi Dench is Contini’s costume designer and confidant.

So, I totally suspect a two-hour version of Julio Iglesias’s “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” with generous dashes of love for the authorial presence of male film directors. Also, I think this trailer gives you virtually no insight into what this story is about.

That said, I totally want to see this movie because:

1) I’m always interested in film musicals, whether they are good, bad, screen adaptations of stage musicals, or screen adaptations of stage musicals of feature films. Yes, this means I saw Hairspray and didn’t hate it as much as many of my movie geek friends did. But those matters should be saved for another post. 

2) Unlike many people who hated Chicago (several of whom I suspect feel Marty or Roman got robbed out of a Best Picture Oscar for Gangs of New York or The Pianist), I actually enjoyed it. I felt the adaptation stayed true to the source material, deftly staged sequences that are actually going on in the protagonist’s mind, and felt like Catherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly were great. I even enjoyed Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere, actors whom I otherwise would rather not watch in a movie. My only real complaint (which Jon Stewart shares), was that Bebe Neuwirth, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Velma Kelly was replaced by Zeta Jones. Otherwise, bring it.

3) Daniel Day Lewis can sing? The same guy who apparently prepared for There Will Be Blood by recording his character’s voice using early 20th century phonographic technology? I am there.

d) I’m fascinated by the presence of female pop stars in contemporary film musicals. As the golden age of film musicals has long since passed, it seems like the ones that do make it to the screen need a familiar face and voice, and they are almost always women with celebrated recording careers. Just as I wondered what Madonna brought to Evita, Queen Latifah brought to Chicago, and Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson brought to Dreamgirls, so too am I curious what Fergie is going to bring to Nine. While detractors might snigger that it’s fitting for the woman who sang “My Humps” and “London Bridge” to play a whore, I’ll counter that she’s the only singer we hear in the trailer. Yes, that’s her singing “Be Italian.”

e) In the movie, I’m interested in seeing a whore play a teacher to our genius director protagonist man. In real life, I advocate the decriminalization of prostitution and would like sex workers to get worker rights and benefits.

f) While I worry that these women are going to be portrayed as long-suffering, one-dimensional objects of Condini’s affection, I want to see a movie that boasts so many actresses. I haven’t seen this many women in an ensemble since I saw Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver (note: Cruz is also starring in Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces and I can’t wait for it to start playing in Austin). 

As an aside, the gossip enthusiast in me is also curious about Cruz and Kidman starring in a movie together. Ever since Tom Cruise split with Nicole Kidman and dated Cruz, I always wonder what their interactions are like every time they show up on a magazine cover together. It’s a catty curiosity, but a curiosity nonetheless. I wonder how they would be portrayed in a movie about Tom Cruise’s life, but want very much for this movie not to be made.

Vogue cover girls Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, and Kate Hudson; image courtesy of latimesblogs.latimes.com

Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz bookending Vanity Fair's 2001 Hollywood Issue cover; image courtesy of abc.net.au

Whether this movie is good or not remains to be seen. That said, I’ll see you at the multiplex.

By Chris Richburg

While Morgan Freeman is making his movie rounds as Nelson Mandela, he’ll be happy to know that he’ll have Jennifer Hudson as his former better half. But not in the same film.

Variety reports the singer/actress will play Winnie Mandela in the new drama, Winnie. For Hudson, the chance to play a woman who has seen her share of ups and downs in the political spotlight was too good to pass up.

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson revealed to Variety. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

Best known for her support of Nelson Mandela as well as her efforts to free her husband, who was jailed as he led the fight against apartheid in South Africa, Winnie Mandela has been at the center of controversy over the years. Among the lowlights was a reported association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year old alleged informer for the government, addition to a 2003 conviction for fraud and theft.

Despite being in good standing in the eyes of some, the good and bad of Winnie Mandela’s story will be told in Winnie. In addition to starring in the film, Hudson is expected to sing the film’s theme song. Winnie is set to begin production May 30 in various locations in South Africa, including Johannesburg, Capt Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

Those wondering about Freeman’s portrayal of the former South African president can catch that next month in the Clint Eastwood-directed feature Invictus. The film, which also stars Matt Damon as South African rugby team captain Francois Pienaar, centers on Mandela’s release from prison as well as his attempt to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to help bring his country together after the fall of apartheid.

Invictus his theaters Dec. 11.

Jennifer Hudson

De acordo com a revista “Variety”, os produtores do filme “Winnie” estão contando com a vencedora do Oscar Jennifer Hudson para ser a protagonista da produção que mostrará momentos de altos e baixos na vida de Winnie Mandela.

O longa deve começar a ser rodado em 30 de maio de 2010, na África do Sul, sem previsão portanto de estreia nos cinemas mundiais, e será dirigido por Darrell J. Roodt, devendo mostrar não somente o apoio que a esposa de Nelson Mandela deu ao marido nos tempos de prisão, mas também divergências políticas e a história de vida da ativista.

It was a reality show reunion of sorts, as X Factor winner Leona Lewis and American Idol loser Jennifer Hudson led from the front at VH1’s Divas show.

Dressed in a baby pink gown, and waist cinching belt, Leona, 24, looked stunning as she took to the red carpet ahead of her performance.

And it was a triumphant return to the stage for Jennifer Hudson, 28, after giving birth to her first child just over four weeks ago.

Here come the divas: Leona Lewis performed alongside reality show counterpart Jennifer Hudson at the VH1 Divas show in Brooklyn, New York last night

Wow! Congratulations Jennifer! She is set to play the title role in Winnie in a biopic about the wife Nelson Mandela. 

She states “I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson told the trade mag of the part, which will be her first since the tragic deaths of her mother, brother and nephew last fall. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honored to be the actress asked to portray her…”This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

More info on E! news: www.eonline.com

Acadamy Awar winner and singer jennifer Hudson is set to play Winnie Mandela in a staring role, Variety magazine reports.  

Ms Madikizela-Mandela played a vital role in freeing her husband after 27 years in jail but has since been linked to a murder of a 14 year old girl  and convicted of fraud.

Nelson Mandela and Ms Madikizela-Mandela were divorced in 1996 just four years after his release from Robben Island.

Her role in the release of her ex-husband is celebrated by many South Africans and she is still known as the “mother of the nation” but she is no stranger to controversy.

She was implicated in the kidnap and murder of young activist Stompie Seipei, who was believed to be an informer for the apartheid government – although she has always denied the charges.

She was convicted of theft and fraud in 2003.

South African film-maker Darrell Roodt will direct the film

Good for jennifer I’m Postive that she will pull it off.

So, it’s been confirmed. Jennifer Hudson will play Winnie Mandela in a movie about the iconic South African. [Insert severe side-eye here] Hmmm. I’m real salty about this. JHud was okay in Dreamgirls, but she sucked in Sex and the City (as the wide-eyed, countrified assistant). What makes anyone think she’s competent enough to play Winnie Mandela? SMH. This is just turning me off from even attempting to watch the damn movie… I wonder if she’ll even be able to get the accent right? This whole thing reeks of Oscar-bait. According to Variety:

Jennifer Hudson is set to star in “Winnie,” a drama that casts her as the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela.

Hudson will play Winnie Mandela in a film that begins production May 30 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Capt Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where the future president spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

“Winnie” will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, the veteran South African filmmaker whose 2006 film “Yesterday” was Africa’s Best Foreign Film nominee, and who also directed “Cry, The Beloved Country,” and “Sarafina!”

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson said. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

I know it’s important to get big names attached to a South African project in order to get funding and exposure, but Winnie is a big deal — she’s an icon and (in the eyes of some) a certified (s)hero. Why not get a real actress and a real South African actress, at that, to pay homage to the woman? I mean, is Terry Pheto too busy or something?

Pic via.

O que dizer dessa ótima cantora Americana ….

Jennifer Hudson participou do filme Dreamgirls atuando ao lado de Beyonce nesse grande sucesso musical. E a atuação dela foi tão boa que lhe rendeu o Oscar de melhor atriz coadjuvante.

Dona de uma voz potente e bem tipica da música R&B americana podemos acompanhar uma apresentação dela cantando uma das suas músicas de maior sucesso, “And I AM Telling You“.

E a música é tão boa que fez parte do repertório musical do programa X-Factor em 2009. Jade Fubara, uma jovem de 17 anos, mostrou que tem força no vocal e cantou na acapela essa linda música.

Vejam como essa garota é ousada. =D

BROADWAY BABIES: After they co-starred in Evita, she went on to recreate stellar stage roles at home and abroad in Sunset Boulevard, Anything Goes,

MANDY & PATTI: together in T.O.

Sweeney Todd and Gypsy and on screen in the hit TV series Life Goes On. He graduated to Sunday In The Park With George, made his mark on the big screen in The Princess Bride and Yentl, then scored a hit in three top-notch TV series, Chicago Hope, Dead Like Me, and Criminal Minds. But they always were, and still are, traffic-stopping singers who remain dream-come-true interpreters of Broadway’s greatest composers. The good news is, they’re together again at last, on a rare reunion concert tour. The better news is, they’re coming to Toronto. An Evening With Patti Lupone & Mandy Patinkin will rule the Royal Alex for one short week only, Feb. 9-14, and tickets are already on sale. So don’t say I didn’t warn ya. Because this will truly be a night to remember.

NO, NOT THAT MADONNA: After kicking off its 40th (!!!) anniversary season with Brad Fraser’s high-octane crowd-pleaser True Love Lies, Factory Theatre reportedly has another big winner in The Madonna Painter. After a

HUDSON: that's Mrs. Mandela to you

week of buzz-provoklng previews the world premiere of Michel Marc Bouchard’s theatrical parable, directed by Eda Holmes, opens tonight with a stellar cast including Bartholemew Fair scene-stealer Juan Chioran, who’s already set to headline the Stratford revivals of Kiss Me Kate and Evita next season. In Bouchard’s play, set in rural Quebec at the end of World War I, a village priest commissions a fresco dedicated to the Virgin Mary to protect his parishioners from a flu epidemic, and assistant director Cory O’Brien hints that the synergy between the premise of the play and our current H1N1 headlines was downright eerie. “Coughing rattles throughout the rehearsal hall,” he blogged two weeks ago. “Either our actors are overly ‘method’ or we’ve encountered a very strange coincidence. In a play filled with the ominous threat of the Spanish flu our cast has fallen sick. Stay home? Or come to rehearsal? Ginseng. Hand sanitizer. Cold formula tea. To get the flu shot or not to get the flu shot. That is the question.”

Should be fascinating to see who makes it to the stage tonight.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Glee club guru Will Schuester (aka Matthew Morrison) and rabid cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (aka Jane

MORRISON & LYNCH: Glee-full

Lynch) got together last week when Morrison stopped by the off-Broadway’s theatre to catch Lynch and Tyne Daly in the current Nora & Delia Ephron hit Love, Loss and What I Wore … Lisa Ray, currently being treated for multiple myeloma, is preparing for a stem cell transplant to treat her rare cancer. Next week the gorgeous star of Water and Bollywood/Hollywood starts a two-week procedure that involves releasing her own stem cells back into her blood to “reboot” her system before any further treatment … Jennifer Hudson will go to South Africa next spring to star in a screen biography of Winnie Mandela, the controversial ex-wife of Nelson … and L.A. audiences got an unexpected bonus last week when Dick Van Dyke joined the national touring cast of Mary Poppins for their curtain call at the Ahmanson Theatre.

TOMORROW:

Lily in Las Vegas

-/-