LOS ANGELES — For Oscar and Grammy-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson, the decision to play anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela in her first lead role was no easy matter, especially when she saw what the former South African first lady meant to the nation. In the biopic "Winnie Mandela," Hudson plays the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela from the time she met him as a young woman, through decades as the public face for her imprisoned husband's fight against white rule. The film also depicts Winnie Mandela's fall from grace when she is embroiled in murder and human rights violations before her husband is released from prison after 27 years in 1990 and goes on to become South Africa's first black president. "It was very intimidating for me, actually," said Hudson, who came to understand the pressure of her role when she arrived in South Africa and heard people talk about Winnie Mandela. Hudson, 31, plays opposite fellow Chicagoan Terrence Howard in the role of Nelson Mandela. She spent four months in Africa for the film, which was shot in 2011 by South African director Darrell Roodt. "I had to lose weight for the film and also learn the accent," said Hudson. To conquer the accent, she immersed herself in the South African culture and spent time where the Mandelas lived "just to be absorbed by their surroundings." — Reuters
