From singing in her father’s church choir in Detroit to international stardom, Aretha Franklin’s storied career will unravel on the big screen with the release of her new biopic, Respect on August 13.
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Starring as the Queen of Soul herself is Jennifer Hudson—a revered admirer of Franklin who became friends with the icon near the end of her life. The kindred connection between the two stars dates back to Hudson’s American Idol audition in 2004 where she performed Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me.”
“Who would’ve ever thought? I didn’t know at the time that one day I would play Aretha Franklin,” Hudson shares in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in the latest At Home With episode.
Hudson was raised on Franklin’s music. She points to 1967’s “Dr. Feelgood” as a pivotal moment in her admiration of the lengendary artist. Controversial at the time, Hudson says, “I remember hearing the adults talk about that song, what she was saying.” Comparing the song to the resonant power of “Respect,” she adds, “And ‘Dr. Feelgood’ was the same for me because I remember hearing conversations about the song and the nature of it and the nerve of it.”
But Franklin’s influence expanded beyond popular culture. Hudson didn’t realize until later in her life that the Gospel songs she grew up singing in church like “Amazing Grace” and “Precious Lord” were, in fact, Franklin’s renditions.
The first time the two spoke was after Hudson won the Oscar for Dream Girls in 2007. Franklin dialed the artist again during her Broadway run with Color Purple in 2015. According to Hudson, she said: “It’s you, who I want to play me, don’t say a thing.”
Hudson was humbled by the gesture, adding, “I feel as though I was one of the last people to speak to her before she passed. I didn’t even realize just how sickly she had gotten. And I’m like, ‘she called me. Wow.’ And that call to me was her saying, I hope you’re ready because it’s time.”
Following Franklin’s passing to pancreatic cancer in 2018, Hudson feels that her BET Tribute performance in 2018 was her “real audition.” The two grew very close after they met, and Hudson revealed threads of messages from Franklin suggesting songs she thought Hudson should perform. So when she asked her predecessor to do the honors in this film, Hudson was eager to meet her request and exceed her expectations.
“To me, obviously, the most personal project ever alone adding the passion on top of it. And then the rawness. The rawness of the reality and the story like me, Jennifer, I can’t help but to resonate with it, and come from an honest, vulnerable place, which you will see in the music and in the film,” says Hudson.
She continues, “And for me, it’s bizarre. I don’t know what to call it, but at times it felt as if our worlds came together, especially in delivery. And then, but what made it challenging was when it’s times like in emotional scenes, that’s when I need to cut through. So I could deliver as an actress, but in a human way to make it feel real.”
Hudson says that her takeaway from the experience is “owning your treasure, your voice, and trusting it. That’s where the power lies. Because, as soon as she did that, that’s when we got our coin to sell.”
Listen to Jennifer Hudson’s interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, here.
