Latest in Respect

Welcome to another episode of Deadline’s Scene 2 Seen Podcast. Today’s guest is Liesl Tommy, the director and executive producer of the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect which stars Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, and Marlon Wayans. The director has some amazing credits on her resume including The Walking Dead…

EXCLUSIVE: Believe it or not, musical legend Carole King is turning 80 years old on February 9, which just happens to be the day this year’s Oscar nominations are announced. King has had many career pinnacles in her songwriting and singing career including numerous Grammys, Kennedy Center Honors, and twice inducted…

It wasn’t long between American Idol and the Academy Awards for Jennifer Hudson, actually just a couple of years. After inexplicably being eliminated from the ABC singing competition — the most shocking in the show’s history, according to none other than The New York Times — before even hitting the top five, Hudson…

Editors note: Deadline's Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year's movie awards race. When it came to encapsulating the epic life, prodigious talent and seismic impact of the iconic Aretha Franklin, the creative team behind Respect had a massive tapestry…

Aretha Franklin has been getting a lot of attention lately, not only for the critically praised big-screen biopic Respect, in which Jennifer Hudson plays the Queen of Soul to great effect, but also in 2021’s television limited series Genius: Aretha, in which Cynthia Erivo gets a crack at the role for which she earned…

With her Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, director Liesl Tommy looked to capture a world of “Black excellence…beauty and…fabulousness” from the past that she feels few films ever have. Her feature directorial debut follow Franklin (Jennifer Hudson) from her childhood in the 1950s through her rise to stardom, examining…

The African American Film Critics Association said Wednesday that it has selected Netflix’s Western The Harder They Fall, King Richard, Respect, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Passing, Belfast, Who We Are, House of Gucci, The Power of the Dog and West Side Story as the group’s Top 10 films of the year. The AAFCA will reveal…

Respect director Liesl Tommy was joined by writer Tracey Scott Wilson, cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau and production designer Ina Mayhew at Deadline’s Contenders: New York award-season event Saturday to discuss their movie about legendary singer Aretha Franklin. From a screenplay by Wilson (The Americans, Fosse/Verd…

Doing justice to a real-life person, as an actor, comes with its own set of pressures. Embodying a cultural icon, however, can be downright overwhelming. When Aretha Franklin personally gave Jennifer Hudson her blessing to portray her in the biopic Respect, the Oscar winner was elated by the vote of confidence. Then…

Jennifer Hudson felt that the best way to honor the late soul singing legend Aretha Franklin in the biopic Respect was to deliver as much authenticity in her performance as the Queen of Soul invested in her music. "How do you even begin to capture or approach someone so massive as Aretha Franklin, that’s so dear to…

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson joined me virtually as part of the MGM/United Artists Releasing presentation at the Deadline Contenders Film: London event taking place today in front of an audience of awards voters in England and serving as a launch to this Oscar season. If there was ever a performance deserving of…

EXCLUSIVE: One Community, the film and TV co-financing company founded and led by Scott Budnick, today unveiled “In Session Talks,” an initiative inspired by the legacy of iconic performer and activist Aretha Franklin, which will launch alongside the streaming release of MGM’s Franklin biopic, Respect. The initiative…