The stars of “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” including Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston), Stanley Tucci (Clive Davis), Nafessa Williams (Robyn Crawford), and Director Kasi Lemmons discuss their biopic in this interview with CinemaBlend's Sarah El-Mahmoud. They discuss their research on their characters, how they got access to Whitney Houston’s masters, their favorite performances from the film, and much more!
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00:00 Some days I was playing like 22 and then 42 in the same day
00:05 and it got quite confusing sometimes.
00:08 (upbeat music)
00:10 - I remember for "Bohemian Rhapsody"
00:15 I read that Rami Malek, the fake teeth he used
00:19 was really a marker for him to get into Freddie mode.
00:23 I was wondering for you, if there was any marker
00:25 or ritual you used to get into Whitney?
00:28 - Yeah, fake teeth for one, 'cause you know,
00:31 I've got my gap here.
00:32 So that was something that we needed to figure out.
00:37 But also it was, for me, it was the wigs really.
00:41 And not just because it was, you know,
00:43 indicative of Whitney in certain parts of her life,
00:47 but it also helped me to know at least body wise
00:50 and fashion wise where we are in time.
00:53 Because a lot of hairstyle changes,
00:56 hairstyle changes changed a lot in,
00:57 from the kind of late seventies to the early 2000s.
01:02 So, you know, it helped me kind of plot out where we were to.
01:07 So once I had the wig and the teeth on and in,
01:10 that was my switch.
01:15 - I couldn't believe it.
01:16 I mean, first of all, I couldn't believe that she was British
01:19 because her dialect accent is perfect.
01:22 And then when she recreates those songs,
01:26 I don't know how she did it.
01:28 I've been acting for a long time,
01:29 but I can't imagine doing that.
01:32 I don't know how she did that.
01:33 - I understand you use various original recordings
01:36 of Whitney Houston through this process.
01:39 I was curious what challenges were involved in obtaining
01:43 and kind of weaving them through the film
01:45 in a realistic way.
01:47 - Yeah, the estate was very helpful with the music,
01:50 you know, because they control some of it, most of it.
01:53 And so, you know, that was a good partnership.
01:57 We were able to get some of the masters, which is amazing.
02:01 It really helps to nail that kind of live quality
02:05 of the performance.
02:06 So you really believe that she's, you know, singing.
02:09 And of course you're hearing Whitney.
02:11 Naomi's also singing and she's singing full out,
02:14 but what we're hearing is Whitney.
02:16 But it's getting that live version that was essential,
02:19 getting a live version of all of the songs.
02:22 - I was able to be served by her book, her autobiography.
02:26 Like that was my saving grace.
02:28 It was everything I needed to know.
02:30 And that was the extent of my research.
02:34 And I felt like I was getting it from Robin
02:37 in the way that she wrote her book.
02:39 Obviously to just, you know, research in the time
02:42 of the nineties and understanding what the wardrobe is like,
02:46 what the hair is like, what songs we were listening to.
02:48 Like I created a playlist for Robin
02:51 that I would listen to.
02:52 And my trailer every morning,
02:53 I would play some songs for me and Naomi on set
02:56 just to kind of get us in that zone
02:58 and travel back to that time that Robin and Whitney
03:00 actually was living in.
03:02 So that was a huge part of my research too.
03:04 - I understand you got to meet with Clive Davis
03:07 while shooting this.
03:09 I was wondering if there was something that stuck out to you
03:12 about his own memory of Whitney Houston
03:15 that you got to maybe bring into your scenes with Naomi.
03:18 - I mean, it really was, you know, I talked to him,
03:21 we had a Zoom call before I started filming.
03:24 And, you know, he talked very honestly about how,
03:28 you know, that it was very hard,
03:31 obviously what happened to her,
03:32 but that relationship, you know, he really,
03:35 he loved her and, you know, like a niece to me,
03:39 he really was sort of like,
03:40 became like an uncle in a way to her,
03:43 apart from, you know, being an amazing business guide
03:49 in her business.
03:51 There wasn't one thing in particular,
03:54 it really was a series of things,
03:57 which we see in the documentary,
03:58 which we read about in his book.
04:00 And what she told me, which is just that, you know,
04:03 he knew how talented she was
04:05 and he just wanted to keep her truthful to herself
04:10 and make sure she was happy within herself.
04:14 - I have to ask about the medley scene
04:16 'cause that scene absolutely floored me.
04:18 Can you speak to the preparation for that?
04:22 Something about creating that scene
04:25 that us as audiences may not realize.
04:27 - Took two days to film.
04:29 It was actually, when I read it in the script,
04:31 it was the first thing I looked at on YouTube.
04:33 And so really I'd been practicing that sequence
04:39 for about eight months.
04:40 And it was partially just me watching it
04:44 over and over again,
04:46 but it was also then working with my movement coach,
04:48 Polly Bennett, who kind of,
04:50 we broke it down into little pieces.
04:52 But I, you know, it's that thing,
04:56 you just have to, in every moment I'm playing the song
05:00 and like I'm doing the movements in my head,
05:02 I can still do it now.
05:04 That's the weird thing.
05:05 It says it never leaves you.
05:06 So like, I can hear it and I can like,
05:09 I can, yeah, I know what it is.
05:11 It's just like I practice it so much.
05:13 - It took a second, but that day,
05:16 those two days were some of the most like
05:18 beautiful experiences I've had on this job.
05:22 And in general, it felt like a kind of joyful full stop
05:26 to some of the work that I was doing on this job.
05:30 - The medley, I love the medley
05:32 and I'm most proud of that sequence.
05:35 Honestly, it's one of my favorite things that we shot.
05:38 And then the national anthem also,
05:40 just capturing it and the edit and the energy of it
05:44 and really capturing the excitement of everybody
05:47 that was watching at home
05:49 and the excitement of the crowd that was there
05:51 and the exuberance of her performance
05:54 and the kind of rallying nature of it.
05:57 Those two are my favorites.
06:00 - And there's such a layered kind of queer relationship
06:03 that is explored between Whitney and Robin in this.
06:06 And I was just curious what was like most important to you
06:08 about portraying their relationship.
06:10 - Most important part of it was to show the love
06:12 and the adoration, which I believe was the foundation
06:15 that they shared for one another
06:18 and the loyalty that Robin had towards her.
06:21 And just to show that soulmates come in all different forms,
06:25 although they were able to explore them all,
06:27 but whether they were in a relationship or not,
06:29 they were truly soulmates.
06:31 Take the romance out of it.
06:32 It just was real pure love that they had for each other.
06:35 And I just really wanted that to come across.
06:37 I also was just really careful
06:40 in the way that I represented Robin.
06:42 I wanted to approach that with a lot of care
06:47 and just being sensitive that I'm playing a real person too.
06:51 - Obviously you're doing what's in the script, right?
06:53 So what's in the script is really all you can do.
06:57 There were times when I wish there had been more
07:02 because he was so interesting
07:05 and that relationship is really interesting.
07:08 But ultimately it's her story.
07:10 It's the Whitney Houston story.
07:12 It's not the Clive Davis story.
07:14 So that's really all that matters.
07:15 It's my job to serve the script.
07:19 - I mean, there are a lot of things
07:20 I wish I had more time to focus on.
07:21 And earlier cuts were much longer,
07:25 and we would stay kind of in scenes
07:29 and in relationships longer.
07:31 I really love her relationship with her mother.
07:33 That was a really moving relationship to me.
07:35 And there's scenes with her mother
07:37 that I wish we could have included
07:41 or that we could have stayed in longer.
07:44 I wish we could have more Robin,
07:47 even though there's quite a bit of her in the movie.
07:48 I never got tired of her.
07:50 They were amazing together.
07:52 They just lit each other up.
07:54 And it's a wonderful,
07:56 capturing chemistry between actors
07:58 is one of the things directors live for, right?
08:00 That's like, it's like the gold.
08:02 And I just, I really enjoyed that.
08:05 And there were a lot of things,
08:08 a lot of even musical performances
08:10 and iconic things that she did that weren't included.
08:15 I would go even deeper with her relationship
08:19 with Clive and her father.
08:21 I just, I think I would have gone deeper
08:22 into each of the relationships.
08:25 - What was it like that love millions of people?
08:32 (woman screaming)
08:34 - The best feeling I ever know.
08:38 (woman screaming)
08:40 (dramatic music)
08:43 (laughing)