Jennifer Hudson: "Bill Condon Told Me to be Rude to People"  1/23/07

Jennifer Hudson was encouraged to unleash her inner diva by Dreamgirls director Bill Condon, because she wasn't rude enough to play the star role.

Condon was so keen for singer/actress Hudson, who plays Effie White in the film, to have more of an intimidating presence onscreen he even told her to be rude to the movie musical's crew. But the Kinsey director's unusual tactics paid off when Hudson won a Golden Globe for her role in the film earlier this month (JAN07).

She recalls, "Bill told me, 'Look, you're too professional, you're too nice.'

Because that's me, you know? I'm a polite, well-brought-up girl. So he said, 'Stop apologizing, show up late, barge in, get angry, throw something, find that emotion, connect with anger and give me some outrage.'

"He'd have me walk into the rehearsal and be rude to people. We had to get to this point when Effie had this presence, where nothing started till she walked in the room. Once we'd got there it became fun."