A Whitney Houston biopic is on the way, titled ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, and the first look of the official trailer has left some fans feeling let down by the portrayal of such an icon.
Naomi Ackie is portraying the iconic singer/ actress, and despite having a set of pipes to match, some fans believe that she doesn’t resemble the star whatsoever.
A bit harsh in my opinion, but I guess it’s not for everybody.
Unimpressed fans took to Twitter, with one Whitney fan writing: “She doesn’t resemble Whitney at all.”
“She doesn’t pass as The great Whitney Houston period! I’ll pass on this movie,” said another.
A Third explained that “Whitney had a certain gracefulness about her. It was in her body language and speech,” implying that no one could nail her unique nature.
The trailer reads: “Experience the voice and discover the Whitney you never knew.”
So I guess it makes sense for the portrayal to not feel super familiar to us all.
“My dream? Sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be and reach as big an audience as I can.”
At one point in the trailer, Houston (Ackie) is given criticism because her music doesn’t sound “black enough”.
To which she sassily responds, “Look, I don’t know how to sing Black, and I don’t know how to sing white either… I know how to sing.”
Sony describes the biopic as a film that recounts the story of a New Jersey choir girl who became one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time.
Kasi Lemmons, best known for her work with the 2019 film “Harriet,” has directed the film from a script written by the successful ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ screenwriter Anthony McCarten.
It’s interesting that fans aren’t huge on the actress's portrayal, but either way, we Whitney fans are looking forward to seeing the icon's story come to life on the big screen in December.
