Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys On How ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete’ Became Michele Obama’s ‘Guiding Post’

That Mrs. Obama wanted to show influential educators the film is what surprised Keys the most.When I first was looking at this piece and what it meant to me, I didn’t really look at it in that way. But to actually look at
it through that scope of how education plays such a huge part in our directive, and where we go in our life, and the support in our life, and how that brings parents and teachers together, and how that allows young people to have opportunity through a whole other different level is an underlying theme of this piece, even though I didn’t recognize it off the bat," Keys told us in a separate phone call yesterday from New York City.
Keys's surprise might stem from the fact that very little of the film takes place in an actual school. Most of the action centers around two inner-city kids, Mister (Skylan Brooks) and Pete (Ethan Dizon), falling hard and fast through the proverbial cracks. After Mister’s mom (Hudson) gets arrested, the two friends spend the summer dodging the housing authorities, trying to feed themselves, and fending off the dangers of their Brooklyn projects.  All the while, Mister clings to his dreams of being an actor.
The film also features Hudson's fellow "American Idol" alum Jordin Sparks. It's interesting to note that two "Idol" contestants star in a movie (produced by a Grammy-winning R&B star) about a young man chasing his far-off dreams, even in the face of peril.
You make the dream. Don't let it make you," said Hudson on the topic. "Because a lot of times people lose themselves along their journey of discovering their dream and realizing it and achieving it. So, it depends on if you can hold on to your character, remain who you are, and not let it change you or take you over.