The first look at Naomi Ackie as Witney Houston is here.
The 30-year-old actress portrays the superstar in the upcoming biopic “‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody” which reflects on the superstar’s career come up.
Directed by Kasi Lemmons and written by Anthony McCarten (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), Stanley Tucci appears in the film as legendary record producer Clive Davis, who — as seen in the trailer — discovered Houston in a New York City Nightclub.
Davis, now 90, produced the film.
“What’s your name again?” Tucci asks her in the clip once she’s off stage.
Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston.Sony / Tristar
Stanley Tucci portrays legendary record producer Clive Davis in the film.Sony / Tristar“Whitney Elizabeth Houston,” the actress responds.
Ackie recreates some of Houston’s most famous moments in the trailer, including her performance of the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl.
Near the end of the clip, an interviewer relays the message that some people don’t find her music “black enough,” to which she sharply replies: “I don’t know how to sing ‘black,’ and I don’t know how to sing ‘white’ either. I know how to sing.”
“I might have just heard the greatest voice of her generation,” an offscreen Tucci says at the end of the two-minute trailer.
The teaser did not allude to any of the “How Will I Know” singer’s troubles with drug abuse, towards what ultimately lead to her decline.
The biopic is slated to hit theaters in December 2022.Sony / TristarHouston fatally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11, 2012. Heart disease and cocaine use were cited as contributing factors.
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” hits theaters on Dec. 21.
