Liesl Tommy on the Gospel-Centric ‘Respect’: ‘Aretha Franklin’s Story is Grounded in Faith’

Last updated on: August 10, 2021 at 11:49 pm by DeWayne Hamby

Liesl Tommy on the Gospel-Centric ‘Respect’: ‘Aretha Franklin’s Story is Grounded in Faith’ 2021-08-10T23:49:00-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

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“Respect,” the long-awaited biopic of “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin releases this week from MGM, giving viewers a closer look at the journey of the legendary music icon. Starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, the film traces Franklin’s early days as a young girl singing for her father’s church to her musical breakthrough on the international stage.

Actor Jennifer Hudson and director Liesl Tommy on the set of RESPECT A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert © 2021 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved

Liesl Tommy, a veteran director of theater and episodes of “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings” and “Jessica Jones,” makes her feature film directorial debut with “Respect”. A few days before the film’s premiere, she spoke to “Reel Faith” about why she chose to frame Franklin’s story in her faith, how Jennifer Hudson truly disappeared into the role, and the heartfelt way she chose to thank the singer for the example she set.

It’s so good to talk to you again. I was on the set when you were filming a church scene in January of 2020.

Absolutely, I remember that day very well.

I appreciate your time with us and letting us come and watch the shooting. I just saw the movie a couple of days ago and I just want to say, I was just blown away with it. I mean, seriously, it has to be the best movie I’ve seen this year. I’ve just been gushing about it. It’s a beautiful film. And I know you’re gonna hear a lot of that.

I pray that that is true. Thank you so very much for those kind words. That means a lot to me.

I also loved seeing your cameo in the movie, too. That was a little bit of a surprise.

Oh, you recognized me. Not everybody has.

Oh, yeah. I was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s Liesl right there!” I almost said it out loud in the theater.

Well, you know, I’ll just quickly tell you, you know, I love Aretha Franklin so much. I think it’s palpable in the film. I never got a chance to meet her. So when it was time to cast that part, I just thought, “I’m gonna’ do it. It’s going to be like, sort of a spiritual moment for me being able to tell her what she meant to me.” I never could do it in life. So, I decided to do it a movie.

That’s beautiful. There are just so many little wonderful touches. And you’ve really done a great service to her and her memory and her legacy. You definitely took a very spiritual tone with this film. It’s not a paint-by-numbers biopic, but this is the heart of Aretha, somebody who valued the church through her whole life, even though she saw the ugly side of it, but her faith was very real. Can you talk a little bit about that how, how you want to preserve that because, you know, you could have just as easily focused on a lot more surface-level biopic.

You know, I, when I was thinking about the movie that I wanted to make, the movie that would really honor her, and really, because, you know, once you make a big movie like this stuff, that’s part of the legacy that becomes part of the story, and so I took that extremely seriously. When I pitched the movie into the studio, I pitched it as a movie that should begin in the church and that should end in the church. And when I talked about the music that should be in the movie, I said, “The gospel music was just as important as the hits, as her pop hits, and R&B.” Because when you analyze the phrase, “The Queen of Soul,” which is what I did when I was trying to put together the movie I wanted to make, I kept thinking about it. I was like, “What gives you soul? What is soul? And what is soul for Aretha Franklin?” It was so clear to me that everything about her story was grounded in faith, was grounded in church, and her music was grounded in gospel. And to skip that part of it would be to do a grave disservice to a story about her. I have three uncles who are priests, who are ministers. So, you know, my love for people of faith and for and my respect for people’s faith is very deep. And I don’t know that I’ve seen a lot of movies where the intensity of faith in church is not a punchline, you know what I mean? And I really wanted to show how powerful gathering in common spirituality, how that can uplift a community during very difficult times, give you the strength to carry on the next day. Because that was what the church was for black people during the civil rights era. And beyond.

At the end of “Respect,” I really felt like I was in church. I wanted to stand up, raise my hand. Jennifer did such an amazing job. I wanted to talk to you about her. She exceeded my expectations, just like the movie did.

Aretha Franklin chose Jennifer Hudson to play her. And I think everybody assumes that it is because this woman with a God-given gift of voice, chose another woman with the voice. But the thing about Jennifer that I realized very quickly is that she has she herself is a woman who is so soulful. And a woman who has, you know, deep, deep faith that has been put to the test. The way that Aretha’s faith was put to the test. And I think Aretha Franklin knew that when she chose Jennifer. It was not just about the voice and you know I realized that very quickly, you know, in my first meeting with her, which was, well before we started shooting the film. I understood after speaking with her. We started preparing for the role about six months before we started shooting. I have spent many, many years in the theater. So I have a very strong point of view about acting and acting style and technical preparation. So, I brought a lot of my people in vocal coaches, dialect people, you know, music people, movement, choreography, you know, it was all hands on deck, because this had to be right. And I just know that preparation is the key. And Jennifer was all in. She worked her face off for months. And she was so disciplined and so diligent. And then there were just those days in the rehearsal women in New York City, where it’s just sort of coming together. You know, she started finding the place in her voice where Aretha Franklin’s voice could lay, she started finding the accent. And then one day, it was, we were actually showed her the video of Aretha walking down the aisle in the church to “Amazing Grace” in the documentary. And I said, “Look at her, she looks like she’s walking down the aisle like a bride. And Jennifer just looked at it, and she just started moving. And the movement coach just started kind of talking her through it. And then suddenly, she just landed in that walk. And, and that was when we all screamed, we literally screamed. And it was just like, “There it is.” And from then on, everything fell into place.

“Respect,” directed by Liesl Tommy and starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Tate Donovan, Heather Headley, Skye Dakota Turner, and Mary J. Blige, opens in theaters on Friday, August 13 from MGM Studios.

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