Following its premiere during the BET awards, the first trailer is out for the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” starring Jennifer Hudson.
The long-awaited film follows the Queen of Soul’s life from singing in her father’s church, to becoming one of the most legendary musicians of all time. Liesl Tommy helms the film which also stars Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, Tate Donovan, Tituss Burgess and Sky Dakota Turner.
Franklin died of pancreatic cancer at the age 76 and was a part of the film’s production up until her death in 2018. She won 18 Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 44 times during her prolific career.
The film will have a limited release in the United States on Christmas Day, before a full wide release on January 15th. The project is different from “Genius: Aretha,” National Geographic’s limited series which airs this Fall and stars Cynthia Erivo as Aretha.
