Photo credit: Daniel Krieger / CC by 2.0
Stanley Tucci will play Clive Davis in Whitney Houston’s biopic, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.
Naomi Ackie will play Houston in the musical biopic, based on the life and music of Houston. Kasi Lemmons is set to direct, with screenplay writer Anthony McCarten. Clive Davis is the music producer tasked with discovering Houston before anyone else. Davis helped Houston shape his career to become a superstar.
The movie is product by Pat Houston on behalf of the Houston Estate, alongside Muse of Fire Productions. Other producers include Larry Mestel on behalf of Primary Wave Music and Denis O’Sullivan who also produced Bohemian Rhapsody. Jeff Kalligheri for Compelling Pictures, Matt Jackson for Jackson PIctures, and Molly Smith, Trent and Thad Luckinbill for Black Label Media. Primary Wave Music is a partner of the Houston Estate.
Sony and Tristar Pictures will release the Whitey Houston biopic in theaters on December 23, 2022.
The film celebrates the lives of singers, tragically interrupted at the age of 48 in 2012. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and became the first black artist to receive three RIAA Diamond Awards. Whitney Houston has won six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, and 2 Emmys among countless others.
She is the most awarded female musical artist of all time and has sold over 200 million records worldwide. She made her acting debut with The bodyguard in 1992, recording six songs for the soundtrack. “I Will Always Love You†won a Grammy for Record of the Year and became the best-selling physical single by a woman in music history. The Bodyguard soundtrack remains the best-selling soundtrack album in history.
Earlier this year, Dolly Parton opened up about how she honored Houston with royalties from her hit song songwriter. “I bought my large office complex in Nashville,†Parton told Andy Cohen. “I bought a property in what was the black quarter of town, and it was mostly just black families and people who lived there. I love that I spent that money on a resort and I think “this is the house Whitney built”.
