The premiere of Amazing Grace was supposed to be last night at the Telluride Film Festival and then it was to be released at the Toronto Film Festival next week (Sept. 10). However, thanks to producer Alan Elliot's failure to obtain explicit permission from Aretha Franklin to use her likeness in the film, the premiere has been cancelled. A notice was sent out to alert attendees that a "a Colorado judge has granted the injunction to block the screening of Amazing Grace at the Telluride Film Festival," without going into depth on the matter, presumably since bad press makes for bad public relations. In a strange twist, Franklin apparently told a reporter that she "loves" the movie.
Billboard reported that the lawsuit stated the 80 percent of the film footage is her image and performances that correspond to her best-selling album in 1972. Her issue was with the Sydney Pollack filmed footage of her 1972 performance at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California. The argument was that the original deal she had made explicitly required her consent and Amazing Grace violated both her personal privacy and the very name and likeness that she has built her 50-year career in the music industry upon. A focal point in the injunction was a decade-old ruling that showing video clips of Elvis Presley was not "fair use."
The "Queen of Soul" definitely won out on this one, and a temporary restraining order has been issued that barred the documentary from showing last night and for the next fourteen days. It certainly puts the showing of the film at the Toronto Film Festival (Sept. 10) in complete and total jeopardy. Judge Kane's decision was short but sweet and in a phone interview with The Hollywood Reporter he said, "He had to have permission from her and he didn't. He went ahead without having her consent." Perhaps the Queen has more issues with her right to her likeness and privacy than with the actual content of the film.
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