The spectacular life of the iconic Aretha Franklin comes to the big screen in her new biopic, RESPECT.
While her activism is centered in the movie, her allyship has not been forgotten by her LGBTQ+ fans. The title song became anthemic in its time for anyone demanding a little respect, which included Black people fighting for their civil rights and any oppressed group ready to be heard. It's easy to see why queer people have related to it, and Miss Franklin, so much over the years.
The film opens with an intentional nod to the community. We first meet Aretha as a child and her father, played by Forest Whitaker, asks her to sing. Scanning through the houseguests, we catch a glimpse of two men flirting with each other, a decidedly queer moment that director Liesl Tommy says sets the tone for the film.
"I did feel like, let me put that in there right at the top so everybody understands the values of our film and of Aretha," Tommy tells PRIDE. "Her sister was a lesbian and she was a proud and loving supporter of her sister at a time when that was still pretty radical to be an out lesbian. For me, the thing was, what are Aretha Franklin's values? What are my values? Where did they meet? And to make sure that they landed in the film."
Handpicked for the role by Miss Franklin herself, star Jennifer Hudson knows the power she wielded with her voice. "I love that she was just a representation of equality, like myself, you know what I mean?" Hudson tells us. "I think that was a very important thing to put out there for people to know about her as a person. And it's why we all love her so much."
Audra McDonald, who plays Franklin's mother Barbara, also reflected on her legacy as an ally. "Aretha's someone who was very much an activist and spoke her mind and advocated for civil rights. She was a supporter of the LGBTQ community as well. Part of her legacy will be her voice and what she sang about and the pain and the joy and the emotion that she sang from. It was a bomb and uplifted so many people. I know that the LGBTQ community in particular was a community that she lifted up through her words and her soul. She shared that with all of us. She's like, I don't know, everybody's sort of spiritual grandmother."
Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Tituss Burgess, and Marc Maron also star in the film and in our interview with Wayans, Maron, Hudson, McDonald, and Tommy, the cast discusses Aretha Franklin's lasting legacy, favorite moments from the film, and what they hope viewers take away from the biopic.
RESPECT premieres August 13 in theaters. Watch PRIDE's interview with the cast below:
