Jennifer Hudson stuns in a white mini dress at Respect special screening in Marthas Vineyard – Daily Mail

Just two weeks shy of its theatrical release, Jennifer Hudson attended a reception party and special screening of her film, Respect, in Martha’s Vineyard on Friday evening. 

The 39-year-old singer and actress looked stunning in a white flowing mini dress while continuing to build excitement for the Aretha Franklin biopic with a special screening. 

The film — which has been years in the making — is deeply personal for Hudson as the late Franklin had hand-selected her to play the part over a decade before the movie was ever greenlit. 

The Dream Girls star arrived in style as she stepped off a boat with a group of friends at sunset. 

She looked elegant yet laid back in a flowy white mini dress with buttons cascading down the front and a high neck. 

Dressing the look down she rocked a pair of white straw lined platforms and wore her caramel tresses down in natural curls. 

Hudson commanded attention at the screening and naturally as the film lead she was tapped to speak at the event. 

And at one point she was seen posing next to the film’s poster and an iconic pink gown worn by the late great Respect singer who passed away in 2018. 

In attendance looked to be close friends of both she and the Franklin family as well as the Mayor of Atlanta with whom she posed for a dockside snap.

In an October Entertainment Weekly article, Hudson divulged a bit about her friendship with Aretha and how the film came to be.  

‘We met in New York, and one of the first things she said to me was “You’re gonna win another Oscar for playing me, right?”‘ Hudson shared about the 2006 encounter. 

‘Imagine Aretha Franklin looking you in the face and saying that,’ she continued to say as she replied back to her: ‘I can try.’

And though she had received Aretha’s blessing, the singer died before the film was officially greenlit, following a battle with pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer in 2018. She was 76-years-old. 

‘I had to go into such a deep place to be able to do it at times, and it helped me to be able to pull from my life and it made me understand that much more why she chose me,’ Hudson said of the emotional on-screen portrayal. 

Speaking about her close friendship with Aretha, Hudson shared, ‘I miss hearing from her, because I feel like in teaching me about her life she taught me about life.’

‘I still have the text chains, so every now and then I look back at them. The last time I spoke to her was Aug. 8, [2018] (eight days before her passing) and I can honestly say she sang until her last breath.’    

The movie is set for theatrical release on August 13.