Aretha Franklin Chooses Stars for Future Bio-Pic
Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin announced her choices to play in the highly-anticipated bio-pic based off of her life and her New York Times best-selling autobiography, Aretha From These Roots.
From a Sept. 9 press release, the 68-year old R&B/pop singer expressed that she wanted Oscar award-winning actress Halle Berry to play the role of a younger Aretha Franklin, and Oscar and Tony winning superstar Denzel Washington in the role of her father—Rev. C.L. Franklin, the legendary minister, national evangelist, pastor and civil rights leader. Franklin also selected Oscar-nominated Terrence Howard for the role of her life-long friend and music icon Smokey Robinson; Blair Underwood for the role of her brother and long-time manager Cecil Franklin; and Nia Long for the role of her sister, Erma Franklin. She also chose award-winning gospel singers LaShun Pace and Karen Clark Sheard to take on the roles of members of the world-renowned gospel group, the Ward Singers, with Karen Clark Sheard in the role of Kitty Parham. The Ward Singers greatly influenced Ms. Franklin’s life and career.
The actors all are enthusiastic about the project and have expressed their interest in playing in the upcoming film, subject to further negotiation. A script is being worked on at the present time and will probably surface next week; pushing the film closer to being a reality.
