Geyla Queen
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 | | Subject: Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City Sat May 31, 2008 2:05 am | |
| | Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City | | Jennifer Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sex and the City writer/director Michael Patrick King share the importance of including a Black woman in the film | | By Charreah Jackson |
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com
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Inside every Diane Von Furstenberg sample room, Jimmy Choo spring preview and Chloé sample sale, there are fashion-forward, career-minded single Black women splurging on the latest trend. And they have high-end lifestyles rivaling that of Sex and the City’s fabulous foursome—Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes. Throughout the award-winning show’s six-year history, it was difficult for many Black women who were die-hard fans of the seductive HBO series not to see their personal reflection on the small screen. Fortunately the diversity deficiency was addressed with the inclusion of Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson in the highly anticipated film adaptation in theaters May 30.
Although Hudson admits she was a late convert to the SATC domination, watching the show for consecutive days and traveling with the DVD box set not only brought her up to speed but also helped her gain a better understanding and appreciation of the seriousness of her role, which would add color to the cult classic.
“I hope I represent us well,” said Hudson. “It is such an honor to be the new character and African-American woman. Of all the people they could have chosen, I get to be The One. Michael [Patrick King, the film’s writer and director] let me know he really wanted me for the role and had me in mind when he wrote the character. Luckily, things worked out.”
The film picks up four years after viewers said good-bye to the Big Apple sheroes and their lavish lifestyles of fashion, men and friends. Hudson plays Louise from St. Louis, Carrie’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) assistant during a crucial time and crossroads in the leading lady’s life.
“It was important to address the one shortcoming in our show, which was we had no women of color,” says Parker, the show’s star and executive producer. “That would always concern me, and I talked a lot about it with Michael Patrick. We dreamed big and wanted Jennifer Hudson.”
The mere mention of Jennifer Hudson causes a certain sparkle in the already electric Sarah Jessica Parker. Hudson’s character, the twentysomething Louise, arrives in the Big City, bright-eyed and looking for love. Her affinity for luxe handbags—even if she has to lease them before she owns them—is a perfect contrast to a fortysomething Carrie, who is still a slave to fashion but is more concerned with her tumultuous love life.
“Jennifer brings a maternal quality to the role. Carrie says ‘St. Louise, you brought me back to life,’ and I could barely get the words out of my mouth,” Parker said of the emotional scene when her character and Louise part. “But if someone else was playing [that role] it may have been easier, but it wasn’t because it was her.”
Despite the show’s absence of women of color, Black fashionistas tuned in every week and even hosted their own viewing soirees. However, they were sure to tell the show’s writer Michael Patrick King what was on their minds.
“Over the years fans have spotted me and come up and said, ‘Where are the sisters?’ It went in my mind,” he said, tapping his temple. “And I always thought the one color that was missing was an African-American or minority character. I created this character Louise from St. Louis and thought, Now who can play, it? And then Jennifer Hudson said yes. Who’s going to sit across from Sarah Jessica Parker and pull her weight except someone who belongs there.”
And a match made in heaven it was. Hudson’s evolving style and new love for Jimmy Choos and YSL bags is much like that of her character’s. But she’s quick to add, ‘I’m nobody’s assistant.’ Ironically, Hudson’s on-screen boss Carrie serves as a staff writer for Vogue, “The Fashion Bible” that touted the Dream Girl on its March 2007 cover, making her only the third Black woman to appear there, after predecessors Oprah and Halle Berry.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a cover at first, just a little insert in the magazine,” said Hudson. “And then they saw me come in, and said, ‘We have to make it a cover.’ They completely switched the location all in that day and decided to turn it into a two-day shoot for the cover. I worked all day and all night for that cover, and I’m happy about it. I have never been on a photo shoot that long, and it definitely was an honor.”
The Chicago native and former American Idol contender is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her first love, singing, with acting. She belts the film’s closing song, “All Dressed Up in Love” cowritten by Gnarls Barkley’s frontman, Cee-lo, with an intensity that is unmatched, even by her Dreamgirls alter ego Effie. And Hudson confessed that it was the hardest she has ever sung.
Still, with plans to release her debut album later this year, Hudson is simply enjoying the chance to bring her own sugar and spice to an iconic film about fashion, friendship and love. Her signature grin lit up the room as she proclaimed: “The vibe of Sex and the City is contagious.”
Catch the fever when Sex and the City opens in theaters May 30.
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bellah
Number of posts : 1605
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| | Subject: Re: Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:00 am | |
| I like Jennifer and now i am going to watch Sex and the City...  | |
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Mrs.JAY
Number of posts : 344
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| | Subject: Re: Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:47 pm | |
| SAw the movie--she did an excellent job! Loving her Living in your Spotlight" song. Heard she got engaged recently--- | |
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bellah
Number of posts : 1605
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Registration date : 2008-04-03
| | Subject: Re: Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:43 am | |
| For real...I hope that guy will treat her right mehn and vice versa.. | |
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DSP
Number of posts : 940
Points : 1946
Registration date : 2008-04-02
| | Subject: Re: Jennifer Hudson: Sex and the City Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:42 am | |
| - Mrs.JAY wrote:
- SAw the movie--she did an excellent job! Loving her Living in your Spotlight" song. Heard she got engaged recently---
yeah she left her regular hard working boyfriend of so many years who was with her when she was broke for some guy on Flavor Of Love reality show. Fame is something else | |
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