Alan Elliott on the decades-long journey bringing Aretha Franklin to the big screen

In 1972, the late Aretha Franklin released what would become not only the biggest selling album of her career, but the best-selling live gospel album of all time — Amazing Grace. Around the same time, director Sydney Pollack was also documenting the album's production for a concert film that was to be released that same year.

But for 47 years, the film went unreleased, all because of a simple technical hiccup.

Producer Alan Elliott was a former collaborator of Pollack and inherited the footage shortly before Pollack's passing in 2008. According to Elliott, the original production lacked a clapper — a visual aid that helped synchronize the audio tapes with film reels.

"Nobody brought a clapper. When they got back to the editing facility, they had a couple thousand pieces of film with no reference points," Elliott told q's Tom Power. He also explained that Pollack tried to compensate with a lip reader instead, but eventually gave up.

"[Pollack] was a proud fella and he wouldn't admit that the problem was the sync. We would have these theoretical conversations [about] how we were going to finish the movie … and he would never allow me to see it."

Even after Elliott took the helm, the problems didn't end. He described the recordings as a "mess" of boxes and tapes that lacked context. But thanks to the help of willing peers and modern filmmaking techniques, he finally finished what Pollack started decades ago.

For Elliott, the film's completion was satisfying not only because of how long it took, but because others can now finally grasp the effort put into the album.

"It really is a sight to the blind. Listening to the record, it always had a certain safety and comfort and joy and humanity. Seeing it really was that moment where I said, 'Oh, it's going to translate,'" said Elliott.

I didn't start the project to poke a finger in the eye of the Queen of Soul. It was to lovingly represent this incredible artifact.- Alan Elliott

However, Elliott had to overcome one last hurdle when Franklin threatened to take legal action over the footage's release. Elliott thinks Franklin may have been still sour that the movie went unreleased for so long. She may have also wanted to avoid more publicity due to her deteriorating health prior to her death.

Whatever the case, he was willing to postpone the film's release for a few more years out of respect.

"I didn't start the project to poke a finger in the eye of the Queen of Soul. It was to lovingly represent this incredible artifact," said Elliott.

More importantly, he's grateful that she at least got to see it.

"The only thing she ever said about the movie was, 'I love the film.' She got to see the whole thing. That was terrific."

Amazing Grace is now open in theatres across North America.

Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full interview.

— Produced by ​Tyrone Callender. Written by Miguel Santa Maria.