After the terrible tragedy of her mother, brother, and nephew being murdered earlier this year, getting married, and having her first child, it seems as if Academy Award and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson is ready to get back on the horse and get herself in front of the big screen again.

Roger Friedman over at the Hollywood Reporter gives the scoop:

Hudson is now rumored to be in talks for an indie biopic about South African leader Winnie Mandela. Winnie was a winner during her years as wife of Nelson Mandela during his 27-years of illegal incarceration. But in later years she lost her way, getting into legal trouble and becoming a pariah. She and Mandela have been divorced for some time.

The word is that either the terrific Derek Luke or actor Idris Elba might be up for the part of Nelson Mandela. Details are still sketchy.

Apparently this isn’t the first film about Winnie, Sophie Okenedo played her recently in a BBC film.

I loved Hudson in Dreamgirls; despite what many say I think her actual acting was quite good as well as the singing. She was kind of just there in the Sex and the City movie but that movie itself was a hot mess and so was her character. I did however, like her a lot in The Secret Life of Bees, which if you haven’t seen was a great movie. So I’ll be looking forward to seeing Jennifer stretch her acting muscle and take on a more challenging role.