music biopics

Jennifer Hudson to Sing Aretha Franklin Songs in an Aretha Franklin Movie This Time

Jennifer Hudson and Aretha Franklin. Photo: Getty Images

As Tracking Board first reported and The Wrap confirmed, Jennifer Hudson is in talks to star in an Aretha Franklin biopic from Straight Outta Compton producer Scott Bernstein. The biopic, which has Franklin’s approval, would focus in equal parts on her singing career and her marriage to abusive manager Ted White. In 2012, Franklin told Glamour her main concern with the film was accuracy: “Let’s present the facts and be as creative as possible with them.” (She also said she wanted Denzel Washington or Billy Dee Williams to play her father.) Hudson has long been rumored as the possible star of a Franklin biopic; she auditioned for American Idol with a version of Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me,” and performed “Baby, I Love You” during Idol’s Soul Week. Meanwhile, Paul McDonald’s Rod Stewart biopic still languishes in development hell.

Jennifer Hudson Probably Playing Aretha Franklin