Respect, the upcoming musical biopic about the Queen of Soul, has a rising Oak Cliff star in its cast. Twelve-year-old Skye Turner will play a young Aretha Franklin in the film, due out Aug. 13.
The movie follows Franklin’s journey to find her voice in the turbulent social and political landscape of 1960s America. Jennifer Hudson picks up where Turner leaves off, taking over the screen as Franklin grows up.
Turner is not new to the spotlight. She started getting noticed after a video of her singing Patti LaBelle’s “If Only You Knew” went viral in 2018. The next year, she played a young Tina Turner in the Broadway smash hit Tina.
Respect will be her debut on the big screen. In addition to Hudson, she’s joined by Mary J. Blige, Forest Whitaker and Audra McDonald.
“I got to work with the people that I have admired for my entire life, seeing them all over the screen throughout my life,” said Turner, a talented singer, who had been a big fan of Franklin even before she was cast. She sang the gospel classic “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” as part of her audition.
“There’s not a lot of representation in our field, so getting to portray that in film and on stage is just such an honor,” she said. “I hope to see more of that in the future and I hope to be a part of it as well.”
