OK, you all I'm in my rose garden with the one
and only Jennifer Hudson.
And my eyes water when I think of how you transcended
yourself and you went in and you did
the thing that's really impossible to do
because there's only one Aretha. - Yes, ma'am.
OPRAH: But you did it.
You brought it, bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo.
You did it.
Thank you so much.
That means a lot.
How did you do that.
Did you pray yourself up?
Did you-- how did you do that?
Goodness, well first of all, hearing her
in the back of my head, saying, you know,
Jennifer, you do this.
And that was my encouragement to get through it, to be
able to do it, because it's no easy thing
or task for Aretha Franklin say, OK, I want you to play me.
Then to play someone like Aretha Franklin.
OPRAH: There's only one. - It's only one.
And I'm highly aware.
And she to me is the standard, is the metaphor,
whenever any time anybody says anybody is coming along,
I go, only one Aretha Franklin.
There's only one. OPRAH: Only one.
Yes, ma'am.
OPRAH: And then you took that on.
You took that on.
So let's talk about how it all started.
The cultural rumor is that when you did the BET special
and you're wearing the white pants.
You had a little top, a little [INAUDIBLE],, so
and you came out a little short hair.
And you came out singing "Rock Steady."
So everybody who saw that, with Aretha sitting
on the front row, wearing the chinchilla
said, that was the audition.
You slammed dunked it.
That was it.
In my mind, that was the audition.
Was it? I--
JENNIFER HUDSON: It was. - --knew it.
I think.
That's what I told myself.
OPRAH: Yeah.
That it was my audition.
So let's go back to that moment.
Because I've looked at that video
I don't know how many times on YouTube.
And you walk out with such confidence.
You know she's sitting there in the front row.
Everybody's already told you. ReRe's here.
ReRe's here.
And she's sitting there and she's sitting there like, I'm
waiting for you, you know.
Because she was a tough sister, let me tell you.
And you come out and there is just-- you are all aglow.
You are ready.
So you were prepared in that moment?
JENNIFER HUDSON: As prepared as I could get.
I always say in my mind, if you give me the opportunity,
I will make it work.
And I had my own vision, like my ultimate goal, when I am doing
a tribute to someone, is my hope is in some way I can show
them what they've given us.
Because when you're doing it, you never
get to see what others see.
So it's like, if I could just channel you
a little bit for you to be able to see what you've given us,
then I feel as though my job is done.
And in that moment, like I was like I'm
going to go back in time.
I want to look like a resemblance of her, you know.
And I looked at like old footage of different performances
and things like that and tried to implement it
in that performance.
And so in my mind, I said, in my mind this is my audition.
Although we had talked about it before then,
but I wanted to seal it.
OPRAH: You sealed it. - Seal the deal, right there.
OPRAH: You sealed it.
And at the end of that--
at the end of that tribute, she does this, she does that
and you knew, right? - Yes.
OPRAH: You knew.
That right there, and it's like [INAUDIBLE]
Let's give it to the backup singers in that too.
The backup singers there, they were incredible.
She would have called them the sweet inspirations.
So it's like we have to create that version
of that in some way.
Wow.
So when you know, the word is that she
actually asked you to do it.
So that BET performance, she'd already asked
you years before to play her.
So, was it a serious ask or was it like,
one day, I want you to play me.
How was it?
First, it was my dream to play her.
Like coming out for "Dreamgirls."
What is your dream role?
And I'm like, well, to play Aretha Franklin.
I don't know if she heard that, got wind of it or anything.
And then right after I won the Oscar for "Dreamgirls,"
we had a meeting in New York.
We had breakfast.
And that was the initial meeting that we
had about me playing her.
OPRAH: Was she looking you up and down?
Yes, she was. She said--
Sideways and crossways.
Yeah.
I know she was.
Apparently I was very shy.
And she's like, what you shy or something.
I was like well, I am sitting at the table
with Miss Aretha Franklin.
Like, oh my God.
And it's just I'm like I am sitting--
So tell us about that meeting.
It was just she said, how are you going to portray me?
I remember that question.
I remember the very first thing she said,
is you're going to win an Oscar for playing me, right?
And I was like well, [STUTTERING]
I didn't even have words.
I'm-- I'm sitting here with you.
OPRAH: Let me see if I get the role first, ma'am--
Let me get the role.
OPRAH: --before I worry about the Oscar.
And that question, well, does that mean I got the role?
But that was 15 years ago.