For years, Aretha Franklin talked up Jennifer Hudson for the lead role in a Queen of Soul biopic. Now we’ve got our first look at Hudson in action.
A short but potent teaser trailer for the movie “Respect” was released Friday, as the hype machine starts revving up ahead of the film’s arrival next fall.
Hudson — the Oscar-winning singer-actress handpicked by Franklin — is seen alone and backlit on a stage, belting out the opening bars of “Respect.”
“Find Out What It Means,” reads the trailer’s tagline, nodding to another lyric from Franklin’s signature 1967 song.
“Respect” will hit theaters Oct. 9, according to new press materials from MGM. The film initially was set for an August 2020 premiere, two years to the month after Franklin died in Detroit from a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.
Much R.E.S.P.E.C.T to the queen of soul @respectmoviepic.twitter.com/0oLjwRECZZ
Directed by Liesl Tommy, the project includes Forest Whitaker as the singer’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, with Marlon Wayans playing Ted White, her manager and first husband.
Audra McDonald has been cast as the singer’s mother — indicating the story will include at least some part of the Queen of Soul’s childhood. (Barbara Franklin died when Aretha was 10.)
Shooting has taken place so far in New York and Atlanta. People magazine recently published images from the set, with Hudson in vintage ’60s wear.
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