The long-anticipated film, “Respect” will hit theaters in 100 days. Are you ready to go to the movies? Well, movie theaters are opening to full capacity. I got my final COVID 19 shot last Friday, and though I am vaccinated I still do not feel comfortable being amongst a lot of people. But for those who plan to venture out, I think it will be well worth it.
Finally, we are going to hear about Aretha Franklin’s life, told through the precise direction of Liesl Tommy who makes her feature film debut with Respect. Tommy is the first Black woman ever nominated for a Tony award for Best Direction of a Play in 2016 for Eclipsed and is an Associate Artist at the Berkeley Rep and an Artist Trustee with the Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees.
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.
“My dream for the film – and 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,” said Tommy.
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 and more.
The star-studded cast includes Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin; Whitaker as C.L. Franklin; Marlon Wayans as Ted White; Audra McDonald as Barbara Franklin; Tituss Burgess as Rev. Dr. James Cleveland; Skye Dakota Turner as Young Aretha Franklin; Tate Donovan as John Ham- mond and Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington.
“Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, we know her as this legend, but there is a story to everyone. Her life had so much depth to it, and it came through the music,” said Hudson.
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Opening this weekend in theater is a new suspense thriller “Spiral” brought to you by Chris Rock. He is telling folks to get their COVID vaccination so that they can go to the theater to see his new thriller, “Spiral” with co-star Samuel L. Jackson. But what I didn’t know was, Rock was the mastermind behind the movie. It was he who pitched Lionsgate top brass on doing a “Saw” with a few jokes, and he’s not just a fan but a student of horror.
“A lot of times you meet with people and they say, ‘Oh, I love the horror genre,’ and you can tell if they’re bullshitting,” says “Spiral” Director Darren Lynn Bousman. “That was not him at all. He was giving very obscure references to movies, as well as very detail-oriented thoughts on the previous “Saw” films.”
In the past three years alone, Rock has been busy. He di- rected this year’s stand-up special, “Chris Rock Total Blackout”—may be his best—an extended cut of his 2018 special, “Tamborine.” He anchored season 4 of the Emmy- winning crime drama “Fargo,” a shock to maybe everyone but him. And, now starring as the lead character in “Spiral: From the Book of Saw,” the ninth installment of the “Saw” horror franchise which hits theaters this weekend.
A criminal mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in, “Spiral,” the terrifying new chapter from the book of Saw. Working in the shadow of his father, an esteemed police veteran (Samuel L. Jackson), brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner (Max Minghella) take charge of an investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of a copycat killer’s morbid game.
Talks of another “Saw” installment began after the re- lease of “Jigsaw” in 2017, with Chris Rock wanting to branch out into the horror genre. The Spierig Brothers, who directed “Jigsaw,” were interested in returning for another film but eventually decided against it. The project was of- ficially announced in May 2019, with Rock polishing a script by Stolberg and Goldfinger. The rest of the cast joined in July, with filming taking place in Toronto through August.
Originally scheduled to be released in May 2020, “Spiral,” was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be theatrically released in the United States on May 14, 2021, by Lionsgate. Well, that’s the Philly Beat!!!
