Respect Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Jul. 23, 2021

Respect

Release Date: Friday, August 13, 2021 Nationwide

Marlon Wayans, Liesl Tommy, Mary J. Blige, Sue Baden-Powell, Tituss Burgess, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Tate Donovan, Aaron L. Gilbert, Scott Bernstein, Audra McDonald, Jason Cloth, Marc Maron, Harvey Mason, Saycon Sengbloh, Skye Dakota Turner, Heather Headley, Tracey Scott Wilson, Hailey Kilgore, Stacy Sher, Kimberly Scott

The life of Aretha Franklin from singing as a child in her father’s church’s choir to becoming an iconic superstar and civil rights activist.

PG-13 Biography N/A

4

82% WILL SEE

18% WON'T SEE

Rent or buy Shop

The life of Aretha Franklin from singing as a child in her father’s church’s choir to becoming an iconic superstar and civil rights activist.

Plot

What's the story about?

Following the rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, Respect is the remarkable true story of the music icon’s journey to find her voice.

Biography Drama Music

Snap poll

Will you see Respect?

Seen the movie? Rate it!

Top Cast

The lead cast starring in Respect.

Jennifer Hudson
... Aretha Franklin

Breathe, Sandy Wexler
Forest Whitaker
... C.L. Franklin

Megalopolis, The King of Kings
Marlon Wayans
... Ted White

Him, Air
A
Audra McDonald
... Barbara Franklin

Origin, Beauty and the Beast
Mary J. Blige
... Dinah Washington

Trolls World Tour, Rob Peace
M
Marc Maron
... Jerry Wexler

The Bad Guys 2, What Is Life Worth
Tituss Burgess
... Reverend Dr. James Cleveland

Spellbound, Dolemite Is My Name
S
Saycon Sengbloh
... Erma Franklin
H
Hailey Kilgore
... Carolyn Franklin
T
Tate Donovan
... John Hammond

What Is Life Worth, The Holdovers
S
Skye Dakota Turner
... Young Aretha Franklin
H
Heather Headley
... Clara Ward

Crew Behind the Film

The Respect behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

The film's director Liesl Tommy last directed Born a Crime.

Director: Liesl Tommy
Screenwriters: Tracey Scott Wilson
Producers: Scott Bernstein
Harvey Mason
Stacy Sher

Studios: United Artists Releasing
Production Company: Bron Studios; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; SMB Films

Additional Information

MPA Rating: PG-13 Parents Strongly Cautioned for mature thematic content, strong language including racial epithets, violence, suggestive material, and smoking
Runtime: N/A
Tagline: Not available
Also known as: Untitled Aretha Franklin Project, Aretha Franklin Bio Project
Language: English

All Trailers

Official Respect movie trailers and clips.

Biography

Respect The Queen’s Court – Cast Featurette

Biography

Respect Official Trailer

Biography

Respect Official Teaser

Production Details

What we know about the Respect movie production.

Key Facts

With a story by Callie Khouri (Oscar® winner for Writing, Thelma & Louise) and Tracey Scott Wilson, and screenplay written by Tracey Scott Wilson. Wilson and Tommy have worked together creatively since the 2009 play The Good Negro written by Wilson, directed by Tommy at The Public Theatre. Wilson was a writer on FX’s The Americans which garnered her a Peabody Award as well as Emmy® and WGA Award nominations (6/6/2021).
"My dream for the film -- and for Aretha and her legacy -- was to create a piece of cinema that feels like a classic you have to see in a movie theater. You have to see it on a big screen because her life was so big it deserved that." – Liesl Tommy, director of Respect (6/6/2021).
Callie Khouri, who wrote “Thelma & Louise” and is the creator of TV's Nashville, is writing the script (3/9/19).
Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson was handpicked by Aretha Franklin to play her before the singer's death (1/11/19).

Production Updates

Jun 2021

Completed

The film was tagged as Completed.

Dec 2019

Post-Production

The film was tagged as Post-Production.

Jan 2019

Pre-Production

The film was tagged as Pre-Production. Stage director Liesl Tommy is on-board to direct the biopic.

Mar 2018

Development

The film was tagged as Development.

Release Dates

When was the film released?

Respect was released in nationwide movie theaters on Friday, August 13, 2021. There were 14 other movies released on the same date, including Free Guy, Don't Breathe 2 and Ema.

Movie Theaters

2021-08-13 Nationwide

United States

Streaming

On DVD, Blu-ray & 4K

2021-10-00 DVD

Estimated

Digital (Ultra HD) & more