A new trailer for the Aretha Franklin biopic RESPECT starring Jennifer Hudson was unveiled by MGM. Liesl Tommy directs the film that also stars Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Tate Donovan, Heather Headley, Kimberly Scott and Mary J. Blige. The movie chronicles Franklin’s life from being a young girl singing in her father C.L. Franklin’s church to the trials she went through finding her artistic voice to become the Queen Of Soul. Franklin chose Hudson to play her in the film and they were in communication with each until shortly before Franklin’s death in 2018 at the age of 76 from pancreatic cancer. Whitaker plays Franklin’s father and Marlon Wayans is her ex-husband Ted White. Tituss Burgess was cast as the gospel pioneer James Cleveland and Mary J. Blige is jazz legend Dinah Washington. RESPECT will open in theaters on August 13, 2021.Â
