*MGM has dropped a new trailer for the hotly anticipated drama feature “Respect” starring Jennifer Hudson as the late-great Aretha Franklin.
Directed by Broadway veteran Liesl Tommy, the film also stars Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Marc Maron, Kimberly Scott, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Heather Headley, Skye Dakota Turner, Tate Donovan and Mary J. Blige.
Months after filming on the project wrapped, Hudson said this of Franklin: “I still feel like she’s in me, I really do. I just hope to meet her requests. You think you respect Aretha, but once you see the film and you learn her story, you can’t help but to have a newfound respect for her.”
She also had this to say about her personal connection with the Queen of Soul: “I still have the text chains, so every now and then I look back at them. The last time I spoke to her was Aug. 8, [2018,] and I can honestly say she sang until her last breath.”
Check out the new trailer below.
READ MORE: Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin Biopic ‘Respect’ Pushed Back to Summer 2021
Following the rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, “Respect” is the remarkable true story of the music icon’s journey to find her voice, per press release.
Hudson previously said she hopes to make Franklin “proud” with her portrayal of the soul music icon.
“I just hope I make her proud [and] do her justice,” Hudson said about playing Franklin in the biopic.
“I am just taking it one step at a time, one day at a time,” she said in an interview with Sunday Today (via PEOPLE). “All I want to do is pay tribute to her and meet her requests, you know? Like, ‘Aretha said do this?’ — ‘Yes, ma’am.’”
She added, “Those are huge shoes to fill.”
Prior to her death in August 2018 at age 76 due to pancreatic cancer, Franklin made clear that there was only one person worthy to play her in a biopic: Jennifer Hudson.
Check out the new trailer below. See “Respect” only in theaters on August 13, 2021
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