Cynthia Erivo: How The ‘Music Geek’ Prepared For Her Emmy Nominated Portrayal Of Aretha Franklin

Cynthia Erivo’s CV; the 34 year-old Londoner already has a Wikipedia page for her awards and nominations alone. Having shone on Broadway in the musical of The Color Purple, she garnered an Oscar nomination for playing the runaway slave Harriet Tubman in Harriet, and more recently an Emmy nomination for playing the Queen of Soul, Aretha.

Cynthia Erivo is attached to star in the 1970s period drama “Steel” for MRC Television, the company announced Monday.Set in London, the series centers on Erivo as Madeline Crow, a “fiercely ambitious arms dealer who seizes control of her own destiny in a high-octane and dangerous profession dominated by her male colleagues,” according to the series description.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Emmy nominee Cynthia Erivo will star in and executive produce “Steel,” a 1970s drama set in London about a fiercely ambitious arms dealer.Per the logline, Erivo (“Genius: Aretha Franklin,” “The Outsider”), will play protagonist Madeline Crowe, a self-made woman who seizes control of her own destiny in a high-octane and dangerous profession dominated by her male colleagues.

EXCLUSIVE: All pieces have fallen into place for Steel, a thriller drama set in 1970s London, starring and executive produced by Cynthia Erivo (Genius: Aretha Franklin, The Outsider). The project, teased by MRC Television President Elise Henderson in her Deadline interview in June, will be directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games franchise) and executive produced by Matt Charman (The Mothership, Bridge of Spies).

EXCLUSIVE: GLOW alumna Betty Gilpin is reuniting with the creators of the Netflix wrestling comedy-drama series on their new series, Apple TV+’s Roar. In the anthology, starring and executive produced by Nicole Kidman, Gilpin also joins her former GLOW co-star Alison Brie.

(CNN)Jennifer Hudson has Aretha Franklin to thank, in part, for her career.Hudson first came to fame in 2004 as a finalist on "American Idol." She auditioned for the reality singing competition with Franklin's song, "Share Your Love With Me."Fast forward to 2021 and Hudson is now a Grammy winning singer and an Academy Award winning actress whom Franklin handpicked to portray her in the biopic "Respect" prior to her death in 2018.

(The following post contains SPOILERS for the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect”)The new Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” shows the Queen of Soul grappling with fame, fortune, finding the right note at the start of her career and everything that followed.

singing live as Aretha Franklin in the new biopic “Respect” was a daunting prospect.“It’s tricky,” Hudson, 39, told In Style. “You don’t want to come off as if you’re mimicking somebody, especially somebody like Aretha.”But Hudson got some help from vocal coach Tom Jones — her former fellow judge on “The Voice UK” — in finding Franklin’s voice while not losing her own.

There isn’t a better way to remember Aretha Franklin‘s legacy than to have her granddaughter Grace Franklin, 15, singing one of her songs! Jennifer Hudson, 39, introduced the teen at the premiere of the Aretha biopic Respect on Sunday August 8. Grace’s tribute to her grandmother consisted of her offering a jaw-dropping rendition of the singer’s 1968 song “Ain’t No Way.”

The movie Respect is now playing in theaters and you can listen to the full soundtrack right here!

Carita Rizzo In flashing back to college-age Annie on Hulu’s “Shrill,” Aidy Bryant felt as if she had traveled back in time.“I was getting caught up in my own emotions,” says Bryant. “It was almost like visiting an old self.”The unflattering costume reminded her of a person who used to hide behind clothing and, to her surprise, Bryant felt trapped.

Aretha Franklin.Hudson stars as Franklin in upcoming biopic, Respect, directed by Liesl Tommy, written by Tracey Scott Wilson and set for release next month.At Sunday’s (August 8) world premiere of the film at the Regency Village Theatre in the Los Angeles district of Westwood, Hudson recalled her last conversation with Franklin, who she became friends with in the late 2000s and spoke to on a weekly basis up until Franklin’s death in 2018.She told The Hollywood Reporter: “The last time I heard

Aretha Franklin in 2007. The two singers had technically met before, when Hudson, freshly cut from American Idol, opened for Franklin at a show in Indiana.

Jennifer Hudson plays her idol and mentor Aretha Franklin in the new movie Respect and she’s opening up about the weekly phone calls she used to have with the late singer.

Jennifer Hudson is getting ready for the world to see her as Aretha Franklin in the upcoming biopic, “Respect”. ET’s Kevin Frazier spoke with the Oscar-winning actress and singer on the black carpet at the film’s premiere, where Hudson talked about honouring Franklin’s life and the final song request the Queen of Soul had for her.

Jennifer Hudson is getting ready for the world to see her as Aretha Franklin in the upcoming biopic,.

Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect,” it’s not clear what it means, wasting a lot of superb screen talent in the slapdash process.This time it's Jennifer Hudson portraying the Queen of Soul — a few months after Cynthia Erivo played Franklin in a National Geographic TV series — and you won't be able to leave the theater without a lot of respect — yes, R-E-S-P-E-C-T — for Hudson's abilities.But a meandering, unfocused look at the first three decades of Franklin’s life will also leave you saying a

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticFrom age 10 till 30, Aretha Franklin sure could sing, but she hadn’t yet found her voice. At least, that’s the take served up in “Respect,” a solid if somewhat conventional feature directing debut for Broadway helmer Liesl Tommy which flatters Franklin in practically every way, beginning with the casting of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson as the First Lady of Soul’s younger self.