Respect director Liesl Tommy on Jennifer Hudson perfectly capturing Aretha Franklin in her performance: “When Jennifer suddenly nailed that in the rehearsal room, we literally all went, ‘Oh my God, there it is — there’s Aretha.’'
.” It’s not a coincidence that this is also the 15th anniversary of something else momentous — Hudson delivering her Oscar-winning performance in “Dreamgirls” — since it was seeing Hudson in that role that provided her a eureka moment about who could pass the bar to portray her on screen.
It may be ironic that the vocal sound that Franklin left behind when she stopped cutting jazz standards for Columbia early in her career is the sound Hudson feels naturally closest to. When Hudson first met Franklin, the legend pointed out that the younger singer had a purity in her voice — possibly meant more as a “that’s something you’ll need to work on” aside than a compliment. “The standards era is where our actual pure instruments parallel,” Hudson points out.
“I’m a very outspoken person, very verbal, and I take up a lot of space,” laughs Hudson.
An unexpected side benefit no one might’ve seen coming from an Aretha biopic, then, for all its high drama: the possibility that someone might see it and cast her in a sensual rom-com? “I would love to do a romantic comedy,” allows Hudson — “something lighter, coming off of ‘Cats,’ being Grizabella and so emotional, and then ‘Respect’ with all the dramatic, emotional moments there. It would be refreshing to be able to do something light and romantic, which is another side of myself.
“I don’t know if I’m associated with those things, but I always find myself in that space,” Hudson allows. Tommy makes the greater case for it. “I directed a fundraiser last fall called ‘Broadway for Biden.’ I wanted her to do something iconic and classic and I asked her to sing ‘Tomorrow’ from ‘Annie,’ to give everybody a sense of hope, because it was a dark time for a lot of people as they were waiting for the election, no matter what your political affiliation.
For her part, Hudson says of the delays: “I’m a person that believes things happen when they’re supposed to. So it never bothered me. Plus, it’s scary. I’m like, what did I do? So it gave me a little more time to gather myself,” she notes with a laugh, “so I was okay with it.” Although there were steps along the way to acceptance. “Maybe thetime it moved, I was like, okay.
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