RESPECT (2021): MGM Delays Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin Biopic

MGM Delays Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin Biopic

MGM announced Tuesday that it will be delaying Respect — Jennifer Hudson‘s Aretha Franklin biopic  — from January 15th to August 13th in the latest studio push back of a major title as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

Respect, named after Franklin’s 1967 classic soul hit, was originally scheduled to premiere this August but, when the pandemic began, it was pushed back to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Hudson, who won a best supporting actress award for Dreamgirls at the Oscars, was handpicked for the role by Franklin before the singer died in 2018 at the age of 76. The film is only one of many to be continually delayed due to the inability of theaters to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Franklin won 18 Grammy awards, including the first eight awards given in the newly created category, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance from 1968 to 1975. Respect won two Grammys in 1968 for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording and Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1998 Franklin returned to the Top 40 with A Rose Is Still a Rose and released an album of the same name, which was certified gold record.

Later that same year, Franklin was widely celebrated for her performance of Nessun Dorma at the Fortieth Annual Grammy Awards. She filled in for Luciano Pavarotti, who had to cancel his appearance last minute after down with illness. Franklin went on to perform the selection many times in the following years, including her final performance in Philadelphia in 2015 for Pope Francis.

The film, which was directed by theater director Liesl Tommy, also stars Forest Whitaker as C.L. Franklin, Marlon Wayans as Ted White, Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington and Tituss Burgess as Rev. Dr. James Cleveland.

Tommy was onboarded earlier last year, after receiving six Tony Award nominations for her play Eclipsed in 2016, including for Best Director. Callie Khouri, the writer of Thelma & Louise and creator of Nashville, wrote the screenplay for Respect, which follows Franklin’s career from a small child singing in her church choir to a musical superstar.

Tradecraft’s Scott Bernstein, the producer of Straight Outta Compton, and Harvey Mason Jr., writer and producer of songs for both Franklin and Hudson, are both serving as producers on the movie.

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