We get the "Buzz" from Jennifer Hudson!

We had a blast sitting down with Jennifer Hudson at the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about her new movie, The Secret Life of Bees, based upon the popular novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Jennifer joins the power-packed cast of Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, and Sophie Okonedo in this story of sisterhood, love and survival in the 1964 South.

For Jennifer, the closeness she experienced with her fellow actors on the set mirrored her feelings about the film itself. "It's about togetherness," she says. "If we stick together, there's so much we can accomplish, because no matter what the struggle, as long as you've got somebody, you can make it." Jennifer also told us about an upsetting experience when the director forced her to face Southern 1960's-style prejudice.

We all know Jennifer Hudson from her stint on "American Idol" and her transition to film roles in Dreamgirls and, recently, the Sex and the City movie. Hudson comes from humble beginnings singing in a small Chicago church where she brought the congregation to its feet with her soul-stirring performances. The singer/actress entered dozens of talent shows and appeared in musical productions during her grammar and high school years and she was even a featured vocalist on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. The artist recently released her highly anticipated debut album with Clive Davis for Arista records. Hudson attributes her vocal ability to her late grandmother, Julia Kate Hudson, a longtime choir member.

TeenHollywood: You get hit in the face in this film. Was that your most difficult scene to shoot?

Jennifer: It had to be, because I literally had to stand there and fight three men. It was a challenge and something different. The first time I was nervous about it and then I got into it and just had to do what I had to do.

TeenHollywood: As this is your fourth movie, do you feel more comfortable now on a set?

Jennifer: The more work I do, the more comfortable I get. I guess that's just me, but I feel like I'm getting more adjusted. I'm far more used to singing than I am acting, but I'm finding my comfort zone and level with that and just knowing what my range is and what I can do to be better able to perform.

TeenHollywood: In researching that turbulent 1960's Civil Rights time period, were there things that surprised you?

Jennifer: All of it surprised me. I didn't realize how unaware I was to what happened during that time. Like, I did Dreamgirls as well, but we didn't really focus in on the Civil Rights era. And I'm like, 'How did I miss all of this?' And in the middle I'm like, 'Wow. This happened.' And I had DVD's and footage and the chronicles of the civil rights movement and I'm looking all the way back into slavery and all the way to now and it's like, 'Wow, look how far we've come.' And if I had not experienced racism before, I might not have known it, but when I look back at it, it's like, 'Wow, so that's what this incident was and that's what happened.' It opened my eyes in a new way.

TeenHollywood: We've come from fighting for equality to an African-American running for President.

Jennifer: Yeah. It makes me value that moment even more. And even to be a part of him announcing at the DNC, I just literally had to remove myself emotionally so that I could focus and perform my song, because of what I had experienced in my research for Rosaline and The Secret Life of Bees. It's like it wasn't that long ago. And now we are actually looking at a possible African-American President.

TeenHollywood: How nervous were you about going out there and singing the National Anthem?

Jennifer: I was more nervous about catching my air and breathing, because I didn't realize it was a difference in sea level [in the mile-high city of Denver]. I didn't know and no one told me. And then I get there and I have this song with all these big long notes in it and that takes enough air alone and I'm doing my sound check and I'm lightheaded, dizzy and fading and I'm like, 'Omigod, I can't breathe!' But it was the air. The air is extremely thin, so by the time I had to sing it was like, 'OK, let's hold on to whatever air I can so I won't pass out.' (Laughs.)

TeenHollywood: Where do you keep that Dreamgirls Oscar?

Jennifer: I keep my Oscar at home. It's on its own lighted, metal stand and you walk in and it's like 'Oh ah!' (Laughs.)

TeenHollywood: You just had an album come out. I guess you didn't have time to get any of your singer/co-stars on there with you?

Jennifer: Actually, I don't have them on the album. Maybe the next one or maybe I'll be on theirs, but it's just an honor to work with them in the film. Like I said, I was cast before Alicia and she was one of the ones later cast. I was really rooting for her to get it, because I really wanted to work with her whether it's movie or film.

TeenHollywood: Are you planning on any touring?

Jennifer: I do plan to tour. Possibly in October. But all of those things are being put together and possibly through January. Alicia, I think she's already toured if I'm not mistaken. Cause I went to her concert this summer.

TeenHollywood: Did you talk to Alicia about the touring process?

Jennifer: Alicia pretty much gave me more advice on [the recording process] because, I was like, 'God, I didn't know the recording process was going to be this long. I've been recording over a year'. I filmed four movies in-between!' (Laughs.) And I just literally finished recording my album. She was like, 'It always takes me at least a year or so to record my album, so it's nothing out of the norm or whatever.' And then I was able to tour with the [American] Idols, although it's still no comparison to an Alicia Keys tour, but that's kind of how I got my feet wet I guess.

TeenHollywood: I found this movie very emotional and it had some strong messages for women. Can you talk about that?

Jennifer: I think it definitely gives messages to women about coming together and says 'look what we can do and look what we can accomplish'. There are so many women who may be catty towards each other, but if you come together, there is a change you can make and you can strengthen each other through that.

TeenHollywood: Great message. Were you surprised by how well Sex and the City did?

Jennifer: I'm not surprised because it was Sex and the City so I wasn't. It did more than what they expected, but I wasn't surprised and I'm not saying it because I was in it, but it's Sex and the City y'know (laughs)?

TeenHollywood: Would you be open to returning for the sequel?

Jennifer: I have already been told Michael Patrick King (director/writer/producer) that Louise (her character) has moved to New York. She moved back to St. Louis, but, hopefully she moved back to New York with her husband and kids. (Laughs.) I'm already there and I'm ready for whatever they decide to do. A second film? I'd love to.

TeenHollywood: Looks like you really did some cooking in the film. What did you learn to cook?

Jennifer: Gina (the director of "Bees") wanted us to go through cooking courses and I'm like, 'It's props. Won't they cook it for us?' So she is very, very hands on and it paid off. The hardest thing was to roll the honey around on the cornbread. It took forever. I still don't remember how it goes. And I was like, 'What is this?' It took us an hour or two just to get that together. Yeah, all of that was real. I had to go through a course, just to roll some honey on some cornbread. That's how serious she is about it. She's very hands on and very real.

TeenHollywood: We hear the director set up you and Dakota Fanning with a trip to a Southern store where you were treated badly. Can you talk about that?

Jennifer: This was my first week getting to North Carolina and my first week of production and I was terrified to go anywhere in the south, because I did so much research about people being lynched and people being hosed and beat and crazy stuff like that. So I refused to go anywhere. So Gina calls and says she wanted Dakota and I to meet her at a specific location and she gives us a grocery list and gives us money and says, 'I want you to go into the store and get these items.' And then before we went in she says, 'Jennifer, whatever you do, don't hit anyone.' And I'm like, 'Why would I hit anyone?'

TeenHollywood: Wow, I guess it was pretty bad then?

Jennifer: They are treating Dakota like a Queen. I mean she had three or four clerks helping her, asking her 'What can I help you with ma'am? What do you need?' And I'm like, 'Um, can I get a birthday card?' and he's like, 'Ugh, they are right over here.' And he's watching me and looking over my shoulder. Then, he comes up and says, 'Excuse me ma'am, but I could have sworn you've already been to the birthday cards. In fact, I could have sworn you put some in your pockets. Can you empty your pockets please?' And I'm like, 'Are you kidding? You cannot be serious.' And Dakota goes, 'You didn't ask me to empty my pockets. Why are you asking her to empty hers?' We go to get some ice cream and the clerk leans over and tells Dakota, 'You know she can't be in here right?' And I'm like, 'Did I hear him right? Did he say me?' I sit down at the parlor and there is a white man there eating his food and he leans over to the clerk, 'Can you get this nigger out of here? I'm trying to eat my food.' And the only thing I could hear was Gina in my head saying 'Don't hit anybody.' Omigod. It was a set up.

TeenHollywood: So the director planned this to get you ready for a role as an African-American woman in the 1960's South?

Jennifer: It was just a set up to see how we would react in that time, because clearly neither one of us was from that timeframe which was a shock whether they were acting or not. It was like, 'I just can't believe this happened.'

TeenHollywood: Wow! Did she do that to anyone else in the cast?

Jennifer: Well it wasn't needed for them to go through that process, because my character is the only one that had to face that, so I was the only one who was tainted. And even Alicia had to come and see me in my room in the hotel where we were staying because I was like 'This is creeping me out. I can't do it. I don't know who's been lynched over here. This looks terrifying. I feel like I'm on a plantation.' No one knows what I had to go through to build up my character.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about what you thought of the book?

Jennifer: Well, I'm still reading the book. It all happened so fast. It was like, "Secret Life of Bees", here's the script, let's film. But I'm in the midpoint of it and I just think the story is so powerful and needs to be told. Whether it's about sisterhood or people or tryin' times, it's just such a powerful message and that's always something I want to be a part of.