Jennifer Hudson, Oscar-winner for Dreamgirls and the best thing to come out of American Idol ever, has landed a part as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Winnie, in a film that's practically bound to be as controversial as Mandela herself.
Madikizela-Mandela was, of course, the wife of Nelson Mandela, who she married in 1957 and had daughters with. From a relatively privileged background, she trained and worked as a social worked and, on Mandela's imprisonment in 1963, became an outspoken opponent of apartheid who did a huge amount to keep her husband's name alive both nationally and internationally.
In later years, however, she became a figure of controversy, following a speech that appeared to advocate violence and her involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a 14 year-old police informant. She and Mandela were separated by the time he became Prime Minister of South Africa, and her career was further dogged by a conviction for theft and fraud. She has, however, since re-entered politics and done rather well.
It's unquestionably a meaty role for Hudson, who last appeared in The Secret Life of Bees, but one that she should be capable of. Veteran South African director Darrell J. Roodt, best known for Cry, The Beloved Country, is in charge of the film, which he wrote with Andre Pieterse and Paul L. Johnson. It's based on the biography Winnie Mandela: A Life by Annè Marié du Preez Bezdrob.