Posted by | Ray Cornelius
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin may be one step closer to her biopic project coming to life. The 72-year-old music icon is currently in talks with Lifetime TV to produce a film about her legendary career.
According to a recent Billboard interview Franklin said that she is meeting with network producers and things are looking hopeful. “We’re very, very close to signatures on one agreement,” Franklin reports. “It’s just a matter of our coming to terms and agreeing about what we’re doing to do.”
The news comes on the heels of the network announcing two other musical biopics including one based on the marriage between Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown and the second film, on the late R&B entertainer, Aaliyah.
In terms of who will get to play the Detroit singer, it is said that she has narrowed her choices down two award winning actresses. Audra McDonald, who just picked up her sixth Tony Award for her Broadway portrayal of Billie Holliday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill and Jennifer Hudson, who won an Oscar for role as Effie White in Dreamgirls.
“Audra’s got a great voice to work with, but she’s very Broadway oriented,” Franklin notes. “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 is currently working on a divas covers album with Babyface, Darryl Simmons and André 3000. Reportedly, she is putting her spin on such standards as Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
Stay tuned!
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