Fans React to Whitney Houston’s Upcoming Biopic Trailer
The highly anticipated Whitney Houston biopic is finally near release. Despite opposition from family members like Dionne Warwick, the film will be released right in time for the holidays this year. The first-look trailer has the internet buzzing, and fans’ reactions are split.
Fans are split on the Whitney Houston biopic trailer
SONY Pictures has released the first trailer for I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It’s described as a biographical drama about Houston’s personal life and career.
“My dream? Sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be,” Houston’s character says in the trailer. “Reach as big an audience as I can.” Her trials with audience perception of Houston being viewed as a sellout to Black audiences are also highlighted.
In the clip, she confidently shoots back at a reporter, saying, “Look, I don’t know how to sing Black, and I don’t know how to sing white either. I know how to sing.”
Fans are responding across all social media platforms, and the reactions are split. “I feel like we have enough Bobby and Whitney stories,” a user wrote under The Shade Room’s post of the trailer. Another wrote: “Hope it’s good. Do the queen right.”
One viewer wrote on Twitter, echoing similar sentiments about another film. “This doesn’t look bad, but another Whitney Houston biopic?” they wrote. TS Madison also gave her thoughts, writing, “This woman coulda played the ALFRE WOODARD biopic. But her OLDER Whitney speaking voice is on point!…..I definitely am going to see this movie BUT i am going to be EXTREMELY honest with my opinions because i love #WhitneyHouston but after THIS let her REST.”
Naomi Ackie was handpicked to star as the icon
Casting for the film was extensive, and finding the right person to play Houston proved to be a daunting task. After an exhaustive search, Broadway star Ackie was handpicked by producers. Houston’s long-term mentor Clive Davis says Ackie was the perfect fit.
“We were very impressed that Whitney’s persona was being captured,” he told USA Today. “The (singing) voice, of course, will be Whitney’s. When it came to Whitney, we just didn’t think anyone could capture her vocal genius, so it will be the Whitney voice in the film.”
Stella Meghie, the film’s director, also loved Ackie. She told Deadline: “We spent the better part of the last year in an exhaustive search for an actress who could embody Whitney Houston. Naomi Ackie impressed us at every stage of the process. I was moved by her ability to capture the stage presence of a global icon while bringing humanity to her interior life.”
What the biopic will reveal
Slated for release on Christmas 2022, it’s the first authorized biopic from Houston’s estate.
According to an official description of the film from Deadline, I Wanna Dance With Somebody is a “joyous, emotional and heart-breaking celebration of the life and music of the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom. While being very frank about the price that super-stardom exacted, it will be both the rich and complex saga of the search for the perfect marriage between song and singer and audience, and at the same time the moving tale of a simple Jersey girl trying to find her way back home.”
