Bostonia: There had to be a very short list of women who could play and sing this role.

Sam Sokolow: Cynthia was always in the conversation from the minute Aretha emerged as the subject. Her work up to then—the Tony she won in Color Purple, the work she did in the film Bad Night at the El Royale, she pops off the screen. And unlike most actors she comes from a singing career, and she has one of the great voices on earth right now. Cynthia not only has the acting chops to play this incredibly nuanced and powerful role, but if you saw the amazing work she did in Harriet, she also can sing the part of Aretha Franklin. That gets you down to the shortest list in the world.

There’s an interview where she said, ’I have to act Aretha’s voice as I’m acting her character.’ I can’t think of anybody else in the world who could do that. There’s that documentary, Amazing Grace, with Aretha singing that album in the church—I literally had goosebumps every moment I was watching that. And Cynthia’s voice does that to me in this film.

Bostonia: Don’t we already know all there is to know about Aretha? Why did you pick her for the Genius series?

The conversation has gone on around: what is a genius? Who qualifies to be on this program? And the idea of a musical performer was certainly in the conversation, but Aretha Franklin is unique. Rolling Stone named her the greatest singer in the world. The first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The State of Michigan considered her voice a natural resource. So you’re talking about something transcendent. The audience will also see her life had real political ramifications. She was incredibly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, early on through her father, and then again in her own life. Those things are all part of how these subjects are determined. Do they have a cultural impact beyond their own genius? Is there a political impact they make? She’s a perfect example of what we aspired to when we started this—you know the name and you know the work, but you don’t know the person, their story.

Bostonia: This show was originally going to premiere last fall, but then COVID happened. How did that affect production?

We shot in Atlanta, with some scenes filmed in other parts of the country. We began shooting towards the end of 2019 into 2020. I was actually supposed to go down to Atlanta toward the end of March, and obviously that didn’t happen. Everything got shut down and put on hold. But everybody stayed together and stayed focused. I have to tip my hat to the production team and the studio. They came back strong and safe, sometime around Labor Day. It was a real challenge that everybody rose to. We wrapped in December.

The production world has figured it out. It doesn’t mean they’ve cured COVID, but they’ve figured out how to make things during COVID, safely and responsibly. The work was completed and completed really well. And the show goes on.

Bostonia: How does Genius: Aretha speak to the historic moment we’re all living through in regard to race?

The show aspired from the very beginning to tell an historic story that had relevance in the moment it was airing. That was always the North Star of the show. Science was being attacked—and still is every day—by political factions and religious factions. We felt that science needed a moment, and just by telling Einstein’s story, science got that moment. It was the same with Picasso and art itself. The National Endowment for the Arts was getting unfunded. Certainly music is one way to look at Genius: Aretha, but civil rights is another. This show will shine a huge light on the movement.

We couldn’t predict the Black Lives Matter moment last summer, but we know America has been at a crossroads for years. What has happened in the last year only makes it more powerful. You can’t set out to make a moment like that, but life and art collide in really powerful ways sometimes.

Bostonia: So, on a personal level, I understand this is going to be a big weekend in your house?

My wife, Julia Fowler, is a writer on a show, Country Comfort, starring Katharine McPhee, that premieres on Netflix March 19, and Genius: Aretha premieres on March 21. That will be a fun weekend here in Marina del Rey. We came out to Hollywood together 20 years ago with a dream, or each with our own dreams, and the fact that the universe has conspired so that we both have TV shows premiering on the same weekend is pretty special. It’s not lost on us. Even talking to you about it right now makes me giddy. It’s one of those moments where Hollywood really is the dream factory.