After committing to deliver biopics on Aaliyah and Whitney Houston, the female audience-geared ‘Lifetime’ now works side by side with Aretha Franklin to tell her story, it has emerged today.
Speaking to ‘Billboard’, Franklin admits:
We’re very, very close to signatures on one agreement. It’s just a matter of our coming to terms and agreeing about what we’re doing to do.
Then, after initially eyeing Halle Berry to portray her, the ‘96 Tears’ singer revealed that she’s now set her sights on Jennifer Hudson or Tony award winner Audra McDonald.
She explained:
Audra’s got a great voice to work with, but she’s very Broadway oriented, but that doesn’t mean she cannot perform in the arena of soul, so that’s why I’m interested in hearing how she would sing my things. The singing is certainly going to be a very, very integral and important part of it.
Franklin’s movie news comes as she completes a brand new studio album filled to the brim with hits originally performed by fellow entertainers. Produced by Andre 3000, the project will feature cuts released by Adele, Tina Turner and the late Donna Summer.