Music legend Aretha Franklin wants Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson to play her in an upcoming film based on her life.

Simon Cowell has blasted Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson after she called American Idol "a stepping stone" - insisting she wouldn't have been cast in Dreamgirls without the US talent show.

Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson was stunned when Eddie Murphy lost the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscar ceremony on Sunday and feared the members of the Academy had turned against the film.

Jennifer Hudson was encouraged to unleash her inner diva by Dreamgirls director Bill Condon, because she wasn't rude enough to play the star role.