Nailing the role of “Effie White” has Jennifer Hudson making frequent trips to the podium-but Dreamgirls director Bill Condon thought the Southside Chicago native was “too polite” to play the role.

“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.”

Bill doesn’t want Effie White, he wants Naomi Campbell.

“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.”