Naturally, with the passing of legendary singer Aretha Franklin, a film chronicling the songstress' life was sure to follow and now it has been reported that Jennifer Hudson will be the talent tasked with portraying the late Queen Of Soul on the silver screen in a biopic set to debut in 2020.
Deadline reports that the film, tentatively titled Respect, will arrive in August of 2020 via MGM and will be directed by Liesl Tommy while being scripted Oscar winner Callie Khouri. The publication says that the film will follow Franklin's journey from childhood singing in her fame preacher father's choir to her rise as an international superstar.
Scott Bernstein of Tradecraft and Harvey Mason Jr., who has written and produced for both Franklin and Hudson are both producers on Respect, and as Deadline notes, the film is set to arrive during primetime for Oscar hopefuls to make their commercial debuts.
Hudson, of course, is no stranger to the Oscars' stage having won the award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for her role in Dreamgirls. Currently, the only other film scheduled to arrive on the same date as Respect is an untitled Universal film.
It was in August of 2018 that Franklin passed away at the age of 76 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
