Naomi Ackie inWhitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.Photo: Emily Aragones
Clive DavisbelievesWhitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebodyis the definitive Whitney Houston movie.
The famed music executive, now 90, is a producer behindWhitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, a new movie that features the late singer’s vocals andstars British actress Naomi Ackie in the lead.
Davis — who collaborated with Houston on her biggest hits and shared a close friendship with her prior to hersudden death in February 2012at age 48 — tells PEOPLE the new movie addresses any and all questions fans may have about the icon.
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“Naomi’s audition tape was truly spectacular,” he adds. “It was all the research she had put into it. … Within a few minutes you do feel she’s Whitney. She delivers in that manner in the film.”
Stanley Tucci, Naomi Ackie, Clive Davis.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
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Davis, whocame out publicly as bisexual in 2013, says he “never knew” about Houston’s “teenage affair” with Crawford that’s shown onscreen, and he “only saw the heterosexual side of Whitney.” However, he points out that he and Houston “probably never discussed” their sexuality, though he “never hid” his partners.
“We didn’t have a specific discussion about it, but I think the film is authentic in what it does portray,” he says.
Clive Davis and Whitney Houston in 2000.Lester Cohen/WireImage
Lemmons continues, “In reading everybody’s book and watching the documentaries and really taking a deep dive into the research, it was clear that this was an important relationship and that everybody felt that it was important — one that might’ve rubbed them the wrong way, certain people, but that it was significant.
“It made it very interesting, and I definitely wanted to explore it,” the director adds. “And I wouldn’t have taken the movie if it didn’t include that relationship.”
Star Ackie, 31, says there were “so many things I learned” about Houston while researching for the part, including her private and personal personas: “It’s like Whitney Houston is public-facing; Nippy is for her family and her friends. We know Whitney Houston, but there’s only a select amount of people who know Nippy.”
Sony Pictures
Davis — who launched thecareers of countless stars— shared a “wonderful” and unique bond with Houston. He remembers her as “a once-in-a-lifetime vocalist, a music genius that I had the privilege of collaborating with, to enrich my life both personally and professionally.”
At the end of the day, Lemmons hopesI Wanna Dance With Somebodycaptures Houston’s humanity amid a spectacular life.
“Whitney as an icon was so important to me and so important to all of us,” says Lemmons. “I watched her come up and break, and it was incredible. … We felt like we knew her. But when I met her, which was years later at the height of her career, I saw somebody who was under a lot of pressure, somebody who perhaps was struggling with some aspects of celebrity and somebody who was tired, actually.”
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebodyis in theaters everywhere Thursday.
PEOPLE’s special edition all about the life an unrivaled career of Whitney Houston isavailable now.
source: people.com
