Respect will put the music back in musical biopic when it arrives in theaters on August 13. Aretha Franklin’s story is filled with triumphs, tragedies, and a whole lot of songs – many of which she produced alongside industry behemoth Jerry Wexler.
Marc Maron, who plays the music journalist turned producer, spoke to Screen Rant about getting into character and discovering more about the iconic songstress through his role.
Screen Rant: You play Jerry Wexler, who was a music journalist turned music producer. Can you talk to me about his relationship with Aretha Franklin (Jennifer Hudson)?
Marc Maron: I think that Jerry was a guy that had a deep appreciation of R&B artists. He created the term R&B, which sort of made the music crossover from race records into [the] mainstream. But I think he loved the music, so when he had the opportunity to work with Aretha, he saw an amazing talent that was being not quite understood.
Because she had been at it for many years at Columbia Records, but she couldn’t get any traction or find herself. Being given the opportunity to enable her to do that was one of the great moments in Jerry’s life, and that relationship lasted for many years, for decades. They created amazing music together, but I think it was the nurturing, supportive, but also firm relationship that he had with her; pushing her but giving her the space to do what she was put on the planet to do.
Jennifer Hudson completely disappears in this role. She is Aretha Franklin, and she was handpicked by Aretha herself. Was there a moment where you were shooting with Jennifer, where you just realize, “This is Aretha Franklin?”
Marc Maron: I sort of understood that from the beginning. There was a way that Aretha talked, and once you know the kind of darkness that she was carrying with her and how she moved through the world in relation to that, and the men in her life. I only met Jennifer a couple of times before the shooting.
Jerry Wexler also has a storied career. He’s produced a ton of hits. What did you find fascinating about Jerry that you were able to bring to the screen?
Marc Maron: A guy like that, who’s got a big personality and an amazing amount of drive ambition and passion for what he’s doing, still had to be somewhat diplomatic and collaborative in dealing with these egos. That’s an interesting balance, to have a guy that has that much control in a way, but is willing to delegate and willing to collaborate, and willing to serve the talent as best he could. And that’s no small thing. It’s an amazing talent in and of itself.
Liesl Tommy does a brilliant job directing this, and she has a background in musical theater. Can you talk to me about the collaboration process of working with her and her directing style?
Marc Maron: She was all about the music, man, and she was all about the attention to detail. But when we were shooting those songs – any of them, but the ones I was involved with at Muscle Shoals – that was a day, man. You’re shooting that song for a day, dude, or a half a day.
She knows when it hits. She was pretty good with me from the beginning. There [were] no character notes, it was more like, “Try it a little like this” or “Maybe do it this way”, but not much. She hired the right people, and I was happy about her confidence in me. But there was a close amount of attention paid to shooting those songs and making those things pop.
During the process of the film, was there anything new you discovered about Aretha Franklin that you hadn’t known before?
Marc Maron: Yeah, I hardly knew anything. So, it was all new to me.
Key Release Dates
Respect
Release Date:2021-08-13
