The release date for the new Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody is just around the corner, and in a new interview writer Anthony McCarten has described the film as “a corrective”.
Previous films about her life were “obsessed with her mistakes,” he explained to The Guardian. “They were all sensationalist.”
By all accounts, the film looks like it’s going to be a massive hit: when the trailer dropped in September it racked up 9.7 million views; the film has been authorised by the singer’s estate; judging by the trailer at least, the film will include a full selection of Houston’s most beloved tracks, and the film is being billed as showing a more forgiving view of Houston. Loud, soulful and emotional, the trailer shows the masterful singer’s rise to fame.
Fans of the singer know that her story is not an easy one. Like so many of the world’s biggest stars, she struggled with addiction and would later come to be known for her erratic behaviour – a marked change from the “good girl” image she launched her career with. She died aged 48 years in 2012.
Here’s everything else we know about the film so far.
Who is in it?
The Sony Pictures film has a packed cast. British actor Naomi Ackie, whose previous credits include Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and comedy series Master of None, plays Houston; everyone’s favourite actor turned foodie Stanley Tucci plays record producer Clive Davis; Ashton Sanders, who starred in 2016’s Moonlight, plays Whitney’s husband Bobby Brown and Tamara Tunie (Snake Eyes) plays Whitney’s mother Cissy.
Also joining the cast is Nafessa Williams (Black and Blue, Burning Sands) as Robyn Crawford, Houston’s assistant and creative director, and Clarke Peters (The Mandela Effect) as John Houston, Whitney’s father.
Who is Naomi Ackie?
Although Ackie has been working for years – with roles in the highly acclaimed 2016 film Lady Macbeth (she won British Independent Film’s Most Promising Newcomer award for the role), the 2018 Idris Elba-starring film Yardie and 2019’s The End of the F***ing World series (for which she won a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA) – the actor is by no means a household name – yet.
Speaking to Sky, she said: “As soon as I got the part [of playing Houston] I was like, okay, clear the deck... Not that I had a huge amount of jobs coming in - I don’t want to make it seem like that - but it was definitely like, I don’t want to take on any work, I just want to focus on this. And so it was about eight months of research and preparation and working with my movement coach and dialect coaches.”
On the The Graham Norton Show this week, she said she can finally listen to Houston again after a post-filming hiatus: “I had to take a break because I really was immersed in her world. But now I listen to her to remember some of the moments I had filming. It was such a formative time in my life and career that I look back on it fondly.”
Ackie also has several other productions in the works, including Mickey 17, a new science fiction film from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, which will also star Robert Pattinson, and thriller Pussy Island, Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut which will also star Adria Arjona and Channing Tatum.
What do we know about the plot?
IMDb describes I Wanna Dance With Somebody as: “The joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time. Tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom.” The tagline on the trailer is: “The greatest voice of our time has an even greater story.”
The film is set to cover Houston’s meteoric rise, from her life as a tomboy in New Jersey, to international superstar. It will cover some of her more glowing moments, such as the famous 1991 Star Spangled Banner Super Bowl performance and her 1994 I Will Always Love You performance in South Africa, as well as more private or difficult matters, such as her romance with Robyn Crawford (Houston’s creative director and assistant), her 15-year marriage to singer-songwriter Bobby Brown and her struggles with drug addiction.
However, the film will not pursue the storyline that Houston was molested by a family friend when she was young, as Kevin Macdonald’s documentary did. McCarten explained that the estate, which had authorised the 2018 documentary, was unhappy about this narrative. “They felt that Kevin had overrun the boundaries of the deal that they had... The accusation at the centre of it was unsupported by anything that (Whitney) had told anyone else,” he said to The Guardian. “I would have needed a substantial amount of supporting evidence to include that.”
Any other production details?
The film is being directed by actor and director Kasi Lemmons, who made the acclaimed Netflix miniseries Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker.
The script has been written by Oscar-nominated writer Anthony McCarten, who also penned 2014’s The Theory of Everything, 2017’s Darkest Hour, 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and 2019’s The Two Popes. Speaking to The Guardian McCarten said that despite having the Houston estate’s approval: “I’m not doing this to flatter anybody. The public can smell a rat if it’s a puff piece.”
He said: “When people hear the name ‘Whitney Houston,’ they inevitably say the word ‘tragic’... It’s a universal perception. In some respects, this film is a corrective to that.”
Record producer and Houston mentor Clive Davis (Tucci’s character) is also on board as a producer. In a statement released in 2020 Davis said: “From all my personal and professional experience with Whitney from her late teenage years to her tragic premature death, I know the full Whitney Houston story has not yet been told.
“I am so glad that Anthony McCarten has committed to a no-holds-barred, musically rich screenplay that finally reveals the whole Whitney whose vocal genius deeply affected the world while she fiercely battled the demons that were to be her undoing.”
Speaking to Sky about working with people that knew Houston, Ackie said: “There was a sudden awareness that I was playing the part of Whitney, but also inhabiting a dynamic with the real people, that might mimic some of that with Whitney.
“Pat Houston [Houston’s sister-in-law] and Gary Houston [Houston’s brother] and Clive Davis, all of these people were very much, like, in support, but also just very caring and intricate with the details that they told me... because they want to celebrate Whitney, ultimately. And that’s what this film is aiming to achieve.”
Any other details?
The film has been authorised by the singer’s estate (which is also on board as a producer), meaning the film will be able to be jam-packed full of Houston’s greatest hits.
Pat Houston, the sole executor of the estate, said: “Whitney’s legacy deserves only the best that can be given. I stand with the hearts of these partners being the chosen ones to produce a film that’s uplifting and inspiring to all that loved her, giving you a reason to continue to celebrate The Voice that we all fell in love with and will cherish forever!”
Nevertheless, Lemmons said that the estate still found some scenes of the film uncomfortable to watch. Speaking to The Guardian she said: “One of the things that was most challenging about this was dealing with real people, with real emotions and memories and points of view... They had approved the script but seeing it as a movie was a different thing.”
Is this the first Houston film since her death?
No. In 2015 Lifetime released an Angela Bassett-directed biopic that had Yaya DaCosta (Ugly Betty) playing Houston. It had not been authorised by the estate and Pat Houston at the time, said: “I say this to all Whitney’s family, friends and fan base: if you watch this movie, watch it knowing that Lifetime is notorious for making bad biopics of deceased celebrities and brace yourself for the worst.”
A documentary about Houston called Whitney: Can I Be Me was then released in 2017. It was directed by English documentary maker Nick Broomfield and Austrian director Rudi Dolezal and was widely well-received.
