“You Can’t Help But Be Inspired by It”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With ‘Respect’ Star Jennifer Hudson
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What is it like to play the Queen of Soul? For Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson, it was a great honor. Before Aretha Franklin died in 2018, she tapped Hudson, who stars as the lead in Liesel’s Tommy’s biopic Respect, to play her.
“I was blessed to be able to meet her at the very beginning of my career, right after I was eliminated from American Idol,” Hudson tells THR Presents, powered by Vision Media. “We spoke weekly up until her passing, preparing to gather, discussing things about the project. I miss hearing from her dearly.”
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To prepare for the role, Hudson pulled from those conversations with Franklin as well as observing her artistry and her performance style. “It was so interesting and cool to go on her musical journey,” Hudson said. “We know all the mega-hit records, but there were eight albums before those hits.” She also learned to play the piano to help her understand Franklin’s style even more. “I could not commit to the character without learning that aspect of her artistry to some capacity.”
Part of understanding Franklin also required researching the period in which she grew up. Franklin came of age during the 1950s and ’60s, a period in American history rife with sexism and racism. “I had to understand the circumstances and conditions she grew up in, and how women took up space in an era when they weren’t allowed to be vocal,” Hudson said. It also clarified some of Hudson’s conversations with the late singer, who simply advised Hudson to use her voice when it came to playing this role.
All this research made Hudson more aware of the important things she had to embody in her performance, especially Franklin’s spirituality. “The most important thing throughout the film that needed to be presented and maintained was that she was a woman of faith,” said Hudson. “I know that was important to her and keeping the premise of the gospel throughout her music.”
Balance was key in approaching this role, which has garnered Hudson a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for best performance by a female actor in a leading role. She had to figure out when to bring herself to the role, too, so that she could better tell Franklin’s story. A talented singer in her own right, Hudson asked herself a lot of questions about voice: “Do I use my voice, am I trying to reproduce her voice? How do I approach this when it is a voice that resonates with us all? That we are all attached to and familiar with,” she said.
The answer was to be herself — sort of. For the more emotional scenes, especially ones depicting Franklin’s hardships and those that take place in church, Hudson channeled her personal life, excavating her emotions and relationship to the church. She also studied Franklin, who she endearingly referred to as Ms. Franklin throughout the conversation. “Ms. Franklin wasn’t a very expressive person,” Hudson said. “I would tell people on my set: If I don’t make you feel a little awkward and uncomfortable then I’m not doing my job.”
Perhaps the most important part of the entire film was the music. “Ms. Franklin was the ultimate musician,” Hudson said. “A lot of times you don’t get to see that process of how music is created.” In Respect, Franklin’s musicianship is on full display, with the film showing uninterrupted scenes of her singing and composing. “I think musicians can appreciate that this I not edited down to fast movie making,” Hudson said. “The film is done very organically, like if you came to the set when we were in the studio, it was like we were in the studio. If we were in rehearsal, it was like we were in rehearsal. If it was a concert, you would have felt as though you were genuinely at a concert.” The goal was to portray Franklin’s life as she lived it, and that, says Hudson, is what made this film one of the most unique project she has ever been a part of.
“It was taxing a lot to recreate it, so to have lived it and to still see her prevail through so much. I find it inspiring,” Hudson said of Franklin’s life and journey. “She climbed a lot of mountains, in many forms, and those things sit with me. To see her shine when she did and to achieve the things she achieved, you can’t help but be inspired by it and from it — at least I was.”
This edition of THR Presents is presented by MGM and UAR.
