‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ | Whitney Houston Biopic

[Pennywise]

Whitney Houston film Stella Meghie Directing, Anthony McCarten writing Clive Davis – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: A feature film on the life of iconic songstress Whitney Houston is fast forming. The Whitney Houston Estate, Primary Wave and Grammy-winning music producer Clive Davishave teamed up for I Wanna Dance With Somebody. They are negotiating with The Photograph helmer Stella Meghie to direct.

Scripting and producing is Anthony McCarten, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter who wrote the biographical films The Two Popes, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody, and The Theory Of Everything. On those films, Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury), Gary Oldman (Winston Churchill), and Eddie Redmayne (Stephen Hawkins) won lead actor Oscars three years straight, and Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins were just both nominated for Pope Francis and Pope Benedict, respectively. Those films earned him four Oscar and two BAFTA noms for McCarten, who has been scripting the Bee Gees film for Paramount, GK, Sister and Amblin, and also wrote the book for an upcoming Broadway musical on the life of singer/songwriter Neil Diamond. Focusing on a female icon will be a new one for him.

The big question is, who can possibly play Houston?

We all know about her tragic death in 2012. But if, even now, you listen to the soaring finish of The Bodyguard‘s signature tune I Will Always Love You, or her Super Bowl rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, and the hairs on the back of your neck don’t stand up, it’s because you don’t have hair on the back of your neck. The producers will lean into that part of the story, but won’t ignore her sad ending, much the way that McCarten handled the sensitivity around Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. The producers describe their vision of the film as 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.”

Houston is the most awarded female music artist of all time, selling more than 200 million records worldwide. With her first studio album in 1985 and for more than 25 years that followed, her music became the soundtrack for multiple generations. Her hit songs included Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know, Greatest Love of All, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Didn’t We Almost Have it All, So Emotional, Where Do Broken Hearts Go, I’m Your Baby Tonight andMillion Dollar Bill, among many others. The six songs Houston recorded for her 1992 screen turn with Kevin Costner propelled The Bodyguardsoundtrack to win multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, and a Record of the Year award for the Dolly Parton-penned single I Will Always Love You. The album remains the best-selling soundtrack album in history and the film went on to earn $411 Million at the worldwide box office. She later did soundtracks for other motion pictures, including Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife, the latter which went on to become the best-selling gospel album in history.

In her all-too-brief life, Houston won six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards and two Emmy Awards, among many others. She was inducted earlier this year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Davis, who discovered Houston in 1983 when she was a doe-eyed 19 year old, 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”.

Said Pat Houston, on behalf of the Estate: “The Estate of Whitney Houston is more than elated to be involved with a group of people that are as passionate about Whitney’s life story as we are. 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!”

Said Mestel: “Whitney Houston was the voice of a generation and who better to tell her story then than Pat Houston, Clive Davis and the Oscar-nominated and award-winning Anthony McCarten. Anthony is a proven storyteller and we are honored to have the most “in demand” screen writer in the business as our partner on this important project.”

Adds McCarten: “We are incredibly lucky to have the support and input of many of the key people who knew Whitney the best and who were there at the time, in the making of this film. I am working closely with all of them, to authentically tell the extraordinary story of a peerless talent, taken from us too soon. Recreating for the big screen those unforgettable performances, those beloved songs, and that incredible journey, will be an enormous responsibility, undertaking, privilege and delight for myself and for our entire team.”

 

[Lily Adler]

A black female singer who can act... It will probably be an up and comer who happens to sing.

Or wild card. Actress who is dubbed.

 

[Pennywise]

A black female singer who can act... It will probably be an up and comer who happens to sing.

Or wild card. Actress who is dubbed.

Interested in seeing which route they go.

 

[Lencho01]

Had a feeling the estate wouldn’t let that Lifetime movie be the only thing out there for too long.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

Had a feeling the estate wouldn’t let that Lifetime movie be the only thing out there for too long.

Surprised Aaliyah's family hasn't done anything since that Lifetime movie.

 

[Lencho01]

Surprised Aaliyah's family hasn't done anything since that Lifetime movie.

I’m sure they’re working on something. Just waiting for the right time to announce it, whenever that would be.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

I’m sure they’re working on something. Just waiting for the right time to announce it, whenever that would be.

They should also redo Pac's & Big's movie. Pac's movie should've been as long as X or like it given how much he did in such a short time.

 

[Lencho01]

They should also redo Pac's & Big's movie. Pac's movie should've been as long as X or like it given how much he did in such a short time.

I think it’s just one of those things where it depends a lot on who has the film rights and how well they’re selling it to potential backers.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Aaliyah’s family still owes Lifetime an ass whipping for that horrible movie. Ugh.

And hmm at this Whitney biopic. I really hope they get a dramatic actress and just let her just lip sync the songs like they did with Angela Bassett in ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’.

 

[Pennywise]

Sony Whitney Houston movie Anthony McCarten Stella Meghie Clive Davis – Deadline

 

[Deck Rickard]

Hopefully they won't shy away from the queer elements. There are some people who believe that the root of a lot of Houston's drug problems and her willingness to stay with a slimeball like Bobby Brown was rooted in her being encouraged to hide and end her romantic relationship with Robyn Crawford (though they did continue to work together for years).

 

[Schlosser85]

Hopefully they won't shy away from the queer elements. There are some people who believe that the root of a lot of Houston's drug problems and her willingness to stay with a slimeball like Bobby Brown was rooted in her being encouraged to hide her bisexuality.

Supposedly she had a long-term lesbian relationship with her "best friend".

 

[Deck Rickard]

Supposedly she had a long-term lesbian relationship with her "best friend".

Yeah, I edited my post slightly to reflect that. They probably continued the relationship long after it supposedly ended.

 

[tzarinna]

I need to keep an eye on this. I hope they do her justice.

 

[Pennywise]

The film is being aimed for a release date of Thanksgiving 2022.

 

[Pennywise]

Clive Davis on Whitney Houston Biopic, Navigating Music Biz Shifts - Variety

Clive Davis has never seen a documentary on Whitney Houston that captured the artist and the person he knew so well. So he set out more than a year go to produce a movie biopic of the chart-topping singer of such indelible 1980s and ’90s hits such as “Saving All My Love For You,” “So Emotional,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and “I Will Always Love You.”

In the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” Davis details how he teamed with “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Two Popes” screenwriter Anthony McCarten to develop the script for the Houston biopic.

The pair agreed to work together on their own in order to shop a completed script to the major studios and to raise their own financing. After fierce bidding, the Houston movie landed a distribution pact with Sony Pictures (the studio’s sibling music division owns Houston’s catalog) with director Stella Meghie on board as well.

“I didn’t pay a penny to him, and he didn’t pay a penny to me,” Davis says of his work with McCarten. The two hit it off right away, and Davis spent a year introducing him to key figures in Houston’s life. Davis vows that the movie will be a “no holds barred” portrait of the artist, who died tragically in February 2012 at the age of 48 after grappling with drug abuse.

“I have a mission here,” Davis says. “I have a mission to make sure that for all time that the full picture of Whitney Houston is captured in a no-holds-barred film that is musically rich and shows her genius and more of her character than we have seen to date” in other projects.

The plan is to use Houston’s original recordings in the movie, meaning that the actor who lands the plum lead role does not need to have Whitney Houston-level pipes.

“There was a fierce competition for the movie,” Davis says. “I’m happy to say the reaction to the script was good. Almost every studio head called to tell me about their passion for the project. They know Whitney has been captured and the opportunity here is so special and unique.”

Davis also reveals that he and McCarten made an agreement while working on the Houston script to partner in the future if either of them decide to pursue a movie biopic of Janis Joplin. Davis championed the iconoclastic young woman from Port Arthur, Texas who blew the rock world away with her sound and her swagger before her death at age 27 in 1970.


“We agreed there could still be a great film on Janis Joplin,” Davis says. “We have done nothing on that one but we have legally committed to each other to do it together if either of us ever get involved in it.”

Davis’ long career as head of Columbia Records and Arista led him to be a key figure in the careers of Joplin, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, not to mention in later years Houston, Aretha Franklin and Sean Combs. But even after more than a half-century in the biz, Davis says he still keeps his eyes and ears open for the next big thing.

“I still listen to every chart record when it comes out to see how music is changing,” he says.

 

[Pennywise]

Naomi Ackie To Play Whitney Houston In Biopic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ – Deadline

 

[Deck Rickard]

Solid choice. She wasn’t all that memorable in Star Wars but she was pretty good in The Corrupted (mediocre film but the performances were all around pretty good).

 

[Pennywise]

‘Obi-Wan’s Moses Ingram To Play Robyn Crawford in Whitney Houston Movie – Deadline

 

[Drizzle]

Solid choice. She wasn’t all that memorable in Star Wars but she was pretty good in The Corrupted (mediocre film but the performances were all around pretty good).

I was wondering why the name sounded familiar until I clicked the link and saw she was in Rise of Skywalker. I assume she'll be dubbed though like they did for Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody. There are a few voices that are a bit too iconic to imitate and Houston's is one of them.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I’m not feeling the casting for Whitney or Robyn to be honest.

 

[Dr. Evil]

So this is done without the consent of her family?

 

[Pennywise]

Kasi Lemmons To Direct TriStar’s Whitney Houston Biopic – Deadline

 

[Pennywise]

Ashton Sanders Tapped To Play Bobby Brown In Whitney Houston Biopic – Deadline

 

[Lily Adler]

Interested in seeing which route they go.

Can Naomi sing?