Jennifer Hudson looks and talks like “A Natural Woman” and has earned the “Respect” of fans who know her from “American Idol” to “Dreamgirls” and the current “Sex and the City.”
If she could pick one dream project to call her own, though, the 26-year-old Chicagoan thinks she might 
conquer the world if she could play Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.
“I don’t know if it would be considered a musical or not, and the script isn’t even written yet,” the actress/chanteuse said during a recent “Sex” interview, “but that’s something I would love to do.
“Miss Franklin and I met about it once a while ago. We sat down, had lunch and talked about it. It was very interesting, I was nervous the whole time and that was that.”
How nervous was the Oscar winner?
“Aretha was like, ‘Are you shy or what?’ I mean, it’s Aretha. How can you not be shy? We just mainly talked about the possibility of her film and me portraying her, which would be such an honor to do. That’s like a new dream of mine to do that.”
Nerves obviously played a role in this dream girl’s most recent national TV appearance, too.
“Oh my God, yes, I was extremely nervous in presenting this year’s Academy Award (to supporting actor winner Javier Bardem),” she said. “I was probably more nervous this year than last year. I was in shock of the fact that I’m like, ‘God, this is a room of Academy Award nominees and winners, and I’m one of them here presenting."
“I’m the kind of person that things don’t hit until maybe a year later. I’m standing on the stage still trying to grasp the fact that I won an Oscar and then now I’m presenting one."
“I get kind of nervous when it’s time to speak in front of crowds, so I had to imagine I was singing. Like, ‘OK, you’re going to sing’ and that’s how I had to calm myself down.”
Hudson likely has a lot more to get nervous about in upcoming months, including her new “Spotlight” single from her self-titled album (set for Sept. 30 release) and roles in two fall movies, “Winged Creatures” and “The Secret Life of Bees.”
John M. Urbancich
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Cleveland Sun -- Intermission
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