It's January 2020, and on the Atlanta set of the Aretha Franklin biopic "Respect," there's no indication the world is less than two months away from completely shutting down.
If coronavirus is in the news, it's not the top story, and it's not on top of anyone's minds inside the Infinite Energy Theatre, 35 miles northeast of the city in Duluth, Georgia.
There's a buzz of activity inside the 700-seat theater, where Jennifer Hudson, as Aretha Franklin, is getting ready to film a scene re-creating Franklin's May 1968 concert at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, where she was pelted with flowers by the adoring audience. She's singing "Chain of Fools," and the scene arrives in the midsection of the movie, which opens in theaters Friday.
Grips walk through the lobby carrying gear, as hundreds of extras dressed in period hairstyles and clothing — a sea of green and brown pattern dresses and polyester pants — flow through the door. Every time the door opens, a cold breeze whips through the area, where a small group of press members sits in a taped-off zone in front of a pair of monitors to watch the action unfold without getting in the way.
On stage inside the theater, a band and a group of backup singers rehearse while stage hands sweep the floor. Tended to by a team of hair and makeup artists, Hudson arrives on stage, and she begins to channel the Queen of Soul as cameras roll.
"Chain-chain-chaaaain," she sings, belting out the words, as flowers fly from the audience and cover the stage. "Chain of fo-oo-ols."
"Cut!" is called, everyone resets. The floor gets swept. The extras relax. Hudson exits the stage and gets ready to do it all over again.
This is moviemaking. It's a slow, painstaking process full of stops and starts. When it's all pieced together, it looks glamorous and exciting. On the set it moves slowly, everything is extremely meticulous, and there's more downtime than uptime.
Scott Bernstein is used to this process. He's a producer on the film and he was also a producer on "Straight Outta Compton," the 2015 N.W.A. hit that helped launch a resurgence of music biopics in its wake, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Rocketman" and "Judy." Bernstein worked on "Respect" for years and began speaking to Franklin about the project in 2015.
His vision for the film, he says, is a superhero origin story. "She bleeds, she cries, just like the rest of us," he says, a Los Angeles Kings baseball cap on his head, the same one that Aldis Hodge wore as MC Ren in "Straight Outta Compton."
"I wish she were here to witness this," Bernstein says of Franklin. "She would say, 'This is all for me?'"
After an extended period in the holding area, reporters are ushered inside the theater to watch the action live. There's a group of 80 or so extras in front of the stage and 25 on stage, along with a 10-member band and three backup singers.
Crew members are picking up flowers off the stage and gathering them in orange Home Depot buckets, a choreographer is working with the backup singers, and teams of hair and makeup professionals are making sure everyone looks proper and camera-ready.
Extras fiddle with their phones on the venue floor, a reminder that it's 2020, not 1968. There are flood lights set up in the balcony and the camera is mounted on a crane on stage.
An announcement comes over the P.A.: "Hold your noise, we're going to make an adjustment on stage, and then we'll get back to it." The audience members seated on stage are moved a few feet to their left. Cameras are ready to once again roll, and Hudson cranks out a few more takes.
Hudson is brought to the reporter pool at the side of the stage, looking meticulous head to toe in a stunning white pearl-encrusted, hand-crafted gown, designed by costume designer Clint Ramos. She's still taken aback that she's playing Aretha.
"If I think about it all at once, it's overwhelming," Hudson says. "I just take it one day at a time."
Does she feel a responsibility, a pressure in playing Franklin? "I feel all of those things," she says. Compartmentalizing, she says, is the key.
That said, she's enjoying playing the role. "I'm having fun. This is so fun!" she says. And she's especially enjoying getting to play dress up in period garb. "Look at this dress!" she says.
To make that dress, costume designer Ramos says he had to first understand Franklin, and he spent three months digging into the Queen of Soul.
"In all of my research, I found she was an independent dresser," Ramos says, speaking to reporters back in the lobby outside the theater. "She did not succumb to trends. She listened to her soul as an artist, and channeled what she was going through into her clothing."
As part of her research into Franklin, screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson read David Ritz' 2014 biography "Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin," and combed through hundreds of photos, video clips and other texts about the Queen of Soul.
"I wanted to honor her genius, her artistry and her complexity," says Wilson, whose credits include TV's "Fosse/Verdon" and "The Americans." She was disappointed that production couldn't afford to come to Detroit to film, because of Michigan's lack of tax incentives for filmmakers. "Detroit is Aretha, and Aretha is Detroit," she says. "You can't say Aretha without saying Detroit."
Detroit is in the film, in a role played by Atlanta. Production designer Ina Mayhew re-created Franklin's childhood home on a set built on an Atlanta soundstage, duplicating Franklin's childhood bedroom, the family living room, her father C.L. Franklin's study and the house's sunroom, along with the home's long, wide hallways. For exterior shots, production teams built a front porch onto an existing home they were already using after art director Mark Dillon visited Franklin's childhood home in Detroit.
Details were important, but weren't always available, and where historical references couldn't be found, a little bit of Hollywood magic was used. "She's so well-known," Mayhew says. "We wanted to get her life right, but we had to make some educated guesses."
Back inside the theater, director Liesl Tommy is in charge. It's the Tony nominee's first feature film, and several months into filming, she's doing her best to run a drama-free set. "There is only one diva on this movie," she says, "and that's Aretha Franklin."
Her enthusiasm is contagious and her attitude is relentlessly upbeat. "I'm feeling extremely energized," she says. "Every day something thrilling and magical happens. I feel reborn every single day."
On set, the action is reborn many times a day, and after some time passes, crew members scurry back to their positions and it's go-time once again. Hudson is back on stage and cameras are ready to roll.
"C marker! Echo mark! Set!" a voice says over the P.A. "And... playback! And... Aretha!"
Hudson is singing live, tapping her foot to find the beat. More flowers are tossed her way as audience members move and groove on the seats set up behind her. Marlon Wayans, who plays Franklin's first husband Ted White, hits the stage, annoyed-in-character at the audience showing their unabashed love for Franklin by showering her with flowers.
Later, Wayans says the feeling of adoration for Franklin from that crowd is partly what the film is getting across.
"The audience will feel the love, that's what I love about this story," he says.
The stage is swept and it's time to go again.
"Roll sound! Playback, and... Aretha!"
"Chain, chain chaaaaain," Hudson sings, and this time the scene is performed straight through. She lets out a celebratory "Yeah!" to show her happiness.
"Let's hear some applause for both Aretha and Jenn!" the P.A. voice says.
Extras and crew members applaud. They got what they wanted, and now it's on to the next shot, and then the shot after that, a small victory followed by a lot more work. That's moviemaking.
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'RESPECT'
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content, strong language including racial epithets, violence, suggestive material, and smoking)
Running time: 2:25
Where to watch: In theaters Friday
