Cynthia Erivo Says Her Remake of ‘The Rose’ Is Like ‘if Tina Turner and Florence Welch Had a Baby’

Marc Malkin
·5 min read
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When Cynthia Erivo was approached by Searchlight Pictures to star in a remake of “The Rose,” one of the first things she did was email Bette Midler, who shot to fame for her portrayal of a rock star destroyed by drugs and alcohol in the original 1979 movie. “I guess I was just searching for a blessing, and I got exactly what I wanted,” Erivo tells me during the taping of an upcoming Variety Streaming Room interview. “And she was wonderful and really lovely, and she said some really lovely things.” Erivo, who earned an Emmy nomination for her work as Aretha Franklin in “Genius: Aretha,” is putting a contemporary spin on “The Rose.” “Right now, my brain is saying as if Tina Turner and Florence Welch had a baby,” she says. “That’s sort of how I see my Rose.”

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Scott Huver contributed to this column.

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Have some news to share? Reach out to me at mmalkin@variety.com.

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