The film follows the rise of Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom.
Hudson belts out the title song in the trailer, intercut with scenes of Franklin working to become a successful recording artist — and, yes, demand respect, telling one executive to call her “Miss Franklin.”
Franklin died in 2018.
The movie 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.
Director Liesl Tommy makes her feature film debut with Respect. Tommy is the first Black woman ever nominated for a Tony award for best direction of a play in 2016 for Eclipsed and is an associate artist at the Berkeley Rep and an artist trustee with the Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees.
The story is by Callie Khouri (Oscar winner for Thelma & Louise) and Tracey Scott Wilson, with the screenplay written by Wilson. Wilson and Tommy have worked together creatively since the 2009 play The Good Negro, written by Wilson and directed by Tommy at The Public Theatre. Wilson was a writer on FX’s The Americans, which earned her a Peabody Award as well as Emmy and WGA Award nominations.
The trailer was released during Sunday night’s BET Awards, during which Hudson performed Franklin’s “Young, Gifted and Black.”
The movie will be released in December.
Watch the trailer below.
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