Okonedo Terrified To Sing For Latifah, Keys And Hudson

The Hotel Rwanda star teamed up with the singers in new film The Secret Life of Bees and just assumed she'd have to mime her way through her singing scene in the movie.

But when director Gina Prince-Bythewood insisted she'd be singing live, the actress froze.

She recalls, "That was the thing I was most nervous about. When I read the script, I thought, 'She's not really going to make me sing. I'll be miming along to someone else that can sing.

"And, about a week before, I said, 'This song... who's singing it?' 'You're singing it.' 'Oh, right.'

"There's three of the greatest singers in America and there's me just trying to croak along, unaccompanied, while making pancakes.

"I'd rather they film me running around naked with my knickers on my head."

But Okonedo now admits she's glad she got the chance to sing in the film.

She tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "It made such a story when I got home to England; I tell it all the time: 'Yeah, my record's coming out. Watch this space!'"