The TV star, who is the daughter of Quincy Jones, admits she auditioned for the role of Satine before producers decided to go for a bigger name.
And she wowed movie executives with a routine she worked out with her super-producer dad.
Jones tells Eonline.com, "You had to sing a song and I decided I wanted to sing and play a song. I wanted to play this arrangement of Somewhere from West Side Story that my dad had done for Aretha Franklin.
"So he taught me the whole arrangement on piano and helped me transpose it to the right key for my voice. It's one of my best memories."
And the tune could one day make it on to her own album.
She adds, "I have a lot of reverence-slash-fear about music because obviously I have a living legend as my father. Music breaks my heart constantly. I almost can't even talk about it I love it so much.
"I'm not sure that I'm ready to share that with the world... (but) at some point in my life, I want to lock myself away and make an album just for myself."
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