I Wanna Dance With Somebody is a new film about the life and career of one of the most successful recording singers, Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston won seven of the eight awards she was nominated for at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles on 7 February 1994. She played an “impossible medley” of three massive songs that evening: I Loves You, Porgy, And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going, and I Have Nothing.
Whitney Houston, the voice of a generation, tackled them all simultaneously while making them appear effortless. In a career replete with spine-tingling performances, it is regarded by many as the singer’s best performance. Prepare to be moved to tears, even without considering the tragic conclusion to Houston’s story, if you search for it online.
This is one of several notable performances that British actress Naomi Ackie, from Walthamstow in east London, studied in preparation for the upcoming biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which is expected to catapult her career.
Ackie, 30, has been in Lady Macbeth alongside Florence Pugh, Idris Elba’s directorial debut Yardie, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, and Netflix’s The End Of The F World, for which she received a BAFTA in 2020. But as a relative rookie to leading a picture, this is an enormous responsibility to undertake.
She was initially hesitant to accept the role due to the inevitable attention that would accompany it, but she need not have feared. The mouth tremors, the timing of each breath, the vocal control, and the passion conveyed by Houston’s performances demonstrate that she has done her study.
“I was like, ‘Okay, clear the deck’ as soon as I got the part,” she tells Sky News. “Not that I had a large number of incoming jobs – I don’t want to imply that – but it was the case that I didn’t want to take on any work because I wanted to focus on this.
Consequently, approximately eight months were devoted to research, preparation, and training with my movement coach and dialect coaches. The goal is to practice so much that it becomes ingrained in your body so that when you’re on set, you don’t have to think about it.”
The entire film is comprised of Houston’s original recordings, thus Ackie had to learn every beat and breath to become the vocalist. There are other sequences depicting performances for which no records exist, such as Houston as a young woman rehearsing with her mother Cissy Houston in church and performing with her in the club where music executive Clive Davis found her. These songs feature Ackie’s excellent vocals.
For the other performances, including Greatest Love of All, Saving All My Love, How Will I Know, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, I Will Always Love You, So Emotional, and One Moment In Time, Ackie had to train her voice and sing as Houston along with the playback on set, even without sound being recorded, because lip-syncing, no matter how proficient, would not have sufficed.
Ackie states that studying Houston to improve her mannerisms was an emotional endeavor.
She says, “Oh my God, there were so many instances when I would see a live concert and just start bawling.” “Just out of pure fun of seeing her, and there were moments of genuine admiration, particularly when you begin to understand the reasoning behind some of her actions and why she talks the way she does. I simply gained more and more respect as time passed.”
Davis is one of the film’s producers and the primary source of knowledge about the star’s life.
Stanley Tucci, who portrays the legendary music entrepreneur, discussed his initial thoughts of Houston with him. “He was aware. As soon as he saw her, he declared, “I believe I have just heard the greatest voice of her generation.” He was correct. The way he spoke of her, and the way he now speaks of her, was filled with regard, respect, adoration, and, of course, sadness, since it was such a devastating end to the life of such an extraordinary person.
While music industry bosses are typically perceived as harsh, I Wanna Dance With Somebody portrays Davis as a father figure to young Houston.
Tucci explains, “[He] sincerely cared for her and tried to preserve his distance [from her private life] as much as possible.” “However, you do ultimately become a father or an uncle or something similar. And I think the relationship is great. The fact that he cared so much about his artists, yet possessed such remarkable commercial acumen, makes him an intriguing individual.
The film focuses on Houston’s relationship with friend-turned-assistant Robyn Crawford and how she kept that aspect of her sexuality covert, as well as her tumultuous marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown. It also depicts the drug addiction that ultimately led to her death in 2012, when she was discovered in a bath in Suite 434 of the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, before a pre-Grammys party organized by Davis that she was due to attend.
In addition to Davis, the filmmakers collaborated with Gary and Pat Houston, Whitney’s brother and sister-in-law (who was also her former manager), who understood the necessity of highlighting the star’s many facets.
Ackie describes his conversation with the family members as “very intimate.” “I had a sudden realization that I was playing the role of Whitney, while also inhabiting a dynamic with the real people that may have mirrored parts of that with Whitney.
“Therefore, it was instructive, but I was also blown away by the kindness of sharing the space and holding it for me as I attempted to figure it out. Pat Houston, Gary Houston, and Clive Davis were all supportive, but also very careful and specific with the things they shared with me, you know because they ultimately wish to celebrate Whitney. And that is what this film intends to accomplish.”
The film reveals “not everything, obviously, but a tremendous deal,” according to Tucci. And it is sometimes difficult to watch…
However, it balances it out, Ackie interjects. The good cannot exist without the bad, nor the bad without the good.
Houston’s performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl in 1991 and her biggest song, I Will Always Love You, at a concert honoring Nelson Mandela in South Africa in 1994 are examples of the positive.
Ackie also performs dance movements in music videos, including I Wanna Dance With Somebody and It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay, as well as the iconic chair scene from The Bodyguard, in which the light shines on her face despite the surrounding darkness.
We are reminded of Houston’s extraordinary success – the singer who smashed records set by the Beatles (seven consecutive US number ones) and became the most decorated female artist in history – as well as the demons that finally led to her tragedy.
Even though we all know how it ends, the film deals with Houston’s death in a sensitive and very moving manner.
Ackie says, “I’m not sure if I would have participated if the situation had been handled differently.” “There is so much dramatic irony in biopics in general. But I think it’s vital to leave some things a mystery and to focus on what we want to focus on, which is Whitney’s extraordinary humanity.
