Aretha Franklin: 'Blues Brothers' Director John Landis Recalls Queen of Soul's 'Genius'

Aretha Franklin's legendary career surprisingly only included two acting roles, both directed by [...]

Aretha Franklin's legendary career surprisingly only included two acting roles, both directed by The Blues Brothers' John Landis. On Thursday, hours after the Queen of Soul's death at age 76, Landis remembered working with Franklin.

In '80s The Blues Brothers, Franklin played Mrs. Murphy. In order to convince Matt "Guitar" Murphy not to go with Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) and Jake Blues (John Belushi), she sings the Franklin classic "Think." Franklin later reprised the role for Landis in 1998's Blues Brothers 2000.

The film was notable for helping revive interest in R&B artists whose careers were struggling in the days of disco. Ray Charles, James Brown and other legends all had parts written just for them, including Franklin.

"She was the Queen of Soul, a legendary performer. We were beyond excited she was in the movie. It was our good fortune," Landis recalled to Deadline. "What was interesting was, like most of my movies in the States, the movie got really terrible reviews. Except Pauline Kael, who routinely slammed all of my films. Her review of The Blues Brothers is essentially a dismissal of the movie, and then five or six pages on the genius of Aretha Franklin. Which, by the way, was fine with me."

Landis said Franklin was "concerned" about doing the part, since she was not an actress. But Landis had to convince her that she was.

"She said, 'You know I'm not an actress.' I said, yes you are," Landis recalled to Deadline. "You give a performance every time you sing a song. She thought about that and said, 'Yes, that's true.' She wanted to be sure the proper amount of respect was there, and it sure was. We adored her. John, Dan and I were completely thrilled that she and all those artists agreed to be in that film."

Franklin was surprised that Landis wanted her to perform "Think" instead of "Respect," her signature song, in The Blues Brothers. Franklin eventually sang "Respect" in the sequel, but in the case of The Blues Brothers, "Think" just fit the plot better.

Later in the interview, Landis suggested that Franklin should be on Mount Rushmore.

"I just want to say, to me Aretha Franklin is a true American icon," Landis said. "Her passing is a tragedy, but she must be remembered. Her head should be on Mount Rushmore. She is 100 percent what they call in England a national treasure."

Landis was not the only member of the Blues Brothers circle sharing memories of working with Franklin.

"Happy memories of being with Aretha on movie sets and industry events. The Queen had a wry, skeptical eye on the world but once you got her laughing you were in," Dan Aykroykd tweeted. "What a voice! What a soul. Angel choirs should prepare for increased rehearsal and discipline."

Franklin died Thursday at age 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

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