On the eve of what could be her inaugural Academy Award win for the stunning portrayal of civil rights pioneer Harriet Tubman, Emmy/Tony/Grammy winner Cynthia Erivo‘s building buzz for assuming the role of another pivotal figure in Black History: Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.
Ahead of the late 2020 premiere of the musical monarch’s biographical feature film starring Academy and Grammy award-winner Jennifer Hudson (click here to see the teaser), National Geographic announced ‘Genius: Aretha’ – an eight-part series dedicated to the late musical icon.
Premiering over four consecutive nights beginning Memorial Day 2020, the anthology installment comes as the first-ever authorized limited series about the diva. According to NG it will “explore Franklin’s musical genius and incomparable career — and the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she has had on music and culture around the world.”
With secured music rights to the legend’s catalog, the flick will see Erivo flex her acting and musical muscles in ways viewers have yet to see. Look inside for a glimpse of what’s to come:
‘Genius: Aretha’ premieres May 25th.
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Looks interesting?
This is shady. They know Jennifer Hudson is making a biopic already. ?
Well the estate approved both so I assume they’ll different parts of her story. Weird to do this before the movie though. I guess the check was too good
No mam! Lmao that’s what the comments basically say. I mean they could have at least done some prosthetics to make her a little more realistic. I can’t get past the look and the fact that she can’t even get the way Aretha carried herself and well as spoke!… Ok, I think I’ll agree with the comments now ABSOLUTELY NOT! Sorry! You did really well playing Harriet though!
Chile…this is NOT Aretha. Jeniffer doesn’t have the Full essence of Aretha but at least she was close enough.
Why are they dubbing this style of music in a trailer about queen of soul….?
Seems so out of play.
Aretha’s sound is timeless, vocals and musical arrangements. So why not use her material in the trailer?
Really thrown off by this.?
Jennifer Hudson has really got to bring it (I have faith that she will), but my concern is the accolades of this film and Aretha burn out could be a problem. The estate should have paced these out more. There are big wigs involved in this such as Ron Howard and Brian grazer and Clive Davis. I guarantee Cynthia will get an Emmy for this
Well several Prince documentaries came out after his death (one featuring some strange looking, strange sounding, white dude as Prince) so I’m not surprised that Aretha has this one along with Jennifer’s movie. Erivo’s portrayal doesn’t seem convincing but it does look like the docupic will be quite interesting. But like other comments have pointed out, the trailer doesn’t feature Aretha’s music. On the other hand, it’s made for tv so it will be worth watching anyway. As for the big screen movie, I can’t get past Jennifer’s voice being used instead of her lip syncing. The whole movie (the vocals, the acting) screams Jennifer Hudson, not Aretha. I’m just not seeing the transformation in either one, but I will watch both on the small screen; will not be going to the theater to see Jennifer’s movie.