Jennifer Hudson will play Winnie Mandela

Jennifer Hudson plans to appear on the big screen yet again, in an upcoming film about the former wife of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela.

Variety reported that Hudson will play Winnie Mandela in the movie "Winnie," which will be directed by South African filmmaker Darrell J. Roodt and begins production on location on May 30 in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and the Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The film is based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob's biography "Winnie Mandela: A Life."

Winnie Mandela was the wife and supporter of activist Nelson, and even got arrested herself while campaigning for his release from prison. Later, she was found to be associated with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year-old and was convicted of fraud.