Nov. 30--Spike Lee said he hesitated before asking Grammy-winning singer Jennifer Hudson to join the cast of "Chi-Raq," his new film that explores violence on the South Side, because of the 2008 killings of Hudson's mother, brother and nephew in Chicago.
"I didn't want to seem like I was exploiting the tragedy," Lee told the New York Daily News in a story posted online Saturday. "It took me a while, like a week or so to get enough courage to call her. We finally met and I was walking on eggshells. (As) she sat down, I said, 'I know this might bring back some horrible memories.' She said, 'Spike, those horrible memories are with me every day and we have got to stop this killing -- so let's make this film.'"
Hudson, 34, plays Irene, a mother whose young daughter is killed by a stray bullet on the South Side. As Irene mourns and vows to find her daughter's killer, an Englewood woman (played by Teyonah Parris) organizes a sex strike to try to get warring gangs to put down their weapons.
Hudson, who grew up on the South Side, is no stranger to gun violence. Her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death in October 2008. Her former brother-in-law William Balfour was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for their deaths.
Hudson told the Tribune last week at "Chi-Raq"'s premiere at the Chicago Theatre that she held her breath during the filming of a funeral scene because it reminded her of the killings.
Lee told the Daily News that the scene in which Irene discovers her daughter's body was filmed in just one take.
"I wasn't going to ask (Hudson) to do it again," Lee said. "She wasn't acting."
"Chi-Raq" opens in some theaters Friday and eventually is expected to be available on Amazon's video streaming service.
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