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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00:00Some days I was playing, like, 22, and then 42 in the same day,
00:06and it got quite confusing sometimes.
00:08♪♪
00:14I remember for Bohemian Rhapsody,
00:16I read that Rami Malek, the fake teeth he used
00:20was really a marker for him to get into Freddie mode.
00:23I was wondering for you if there was any marker or ritual
00:26you used to get into Whitney.
00:28Yeah, fake teeth, for one, because, you know,
00:31I've got my gap here, so that was something
00:34that we needed to figure out.
00:37But also, for me, it was the wigs, really,
00:41and not just because it was, you know, indicative of Whitney
00:46in certain parts of her life, but it also helped me to know,
00:49at least body-wise and fashion-wise, where we are in time,
00:53because a lot of hairstyle changes...
00:56Hairstyle changes changed a lot from the kind of late 70s
01:01to the early 2000s, so, you know, it helped me
01:05kind of plot out where we were to.
01:07So once I had the wig and the teeth on and in,
01:11that was my switch.
01:15I couldn't believe it. I mean, first of all,
01:17I couldn't believe that she was British,
01:19because her dialect accent is perfect.
01:23And then when she recreates those songs,
01:27I don't know how she did it.
01:29I've been acting for a long time, but I can't imagine doing that.
01:32I don't know how she did that.
01:34I understand you used various original recordings
01:38of Whitney Houston through this process.
01:40I was curious what challenges were involved in obtaining
01:43and kind of weaving them through the film in a realistic way.
01:47Yeah, the estate was very helpful with the music,
01:51because they control some of it, most of it.
01:54And so that was a good partnership.
01:58We were able to get some of the masters, which is amazing.
02:02It really helps to nail that kind of live quality
02:06of the performance, so you really believe that she's singing.
02:10And, of course, you're hearing Whitney.
02:12Naomi's also singing, and she's singing full out,
02:15but what we're hearing is Whitney.
02:17But it's getting that live version that was essential,
02:20getting a live version of all of the songs.
02:22I was able to be served by her book, her autobiography.
02:27Like, that was my saving grace.
02:29It was everything I needed to know,
02:31and that was the extent of my research.
02:35And I felt like I was getting it from Robin
02:37in the way that she wrote her book.
02:39Obviously, too, just, you know, research in the time of the 90s
02:44and understanding what the wardrobe is like,
02:46what the hair is like, what songs we were listening to.
02:49Like, I created a playlist for Robin
02:51that I would listen to in my trailer every morning.
02:54I would play some songs for me and Naomi on set
02:56just to kind of get us in that zone
02:58and travel back to that time
03:00that Robin and Whitney actually was living in.
03:02So that was a huge part of my research, too.
03:04I understand you got to meet with Clive Davis
03:07while shooting this.
03:09I was wondering if there was something that stuck out to you
03:12about his own memory of Whitney Houston
03:15that you got to maybe bring into your scenes with Naomi.
03:18I mean, it really was, you know, I talked to him.
03:21We had a Zoom call before I started filming.
03:24And, you know, he talked very honestly about how, you know,
03:28that it was very hard, obviously, what happened to her.
03:32But that relationship, you know, he really, he loved her.
03:36And, you know, like a niece.
03:39I mean, he really was sort of like,
03:41became like an uncle in a way to her,
03:43apart from, you know, being an amazing business guide
03:49in her business.
03:51There wasn't one thing in particular.
03:54It really was a series of things,
03:56which we see in the documentary,
03:58which we read about in his book.
04:00And what she told me, which is just that, you know,
04:03he knew how talented she was.
04:05And he just wanted to keep her truthful to herself
04:11and make sure she was happy within herself.
04:14I have to ask about the medley scene,
04:16because that scene absolutely floored me.
04:18Can you speak to the preparation for that?
04:22Something about creating that scene
04:25that us as audiences may not realize.
04:27Took two days to film.
04:29It was actually, when I read it in the script,
04:31it was the first thing I looked at on YouTube.
04:34And so really I'd been practicing that sequence
04:39for about eight months.
04:42And it was partially just me watching it
04:44over and over again.
04:46But it was also then working with my movement coach,
04:49Polly Bennett, who kind of,
04:51we broke it down into little pieces.
04:54But I, you know, it's that thing you just have to,
04:58in every moment I'm playing the song
05:01and like I'm doing the movements in my head,
05:03I can still do it now.
05:04That's the weird thing.
05:05It says it never leaves you.
05:07I can hear it and I can, yeah, I know what it is.
05:11It's just like I practice it so much.
05:13It took a second.
05:15But that day, those two days,
05:17were some of the most beautiful experiences
05:21I've had on this job.
05:23And in general, it felt like a kind of joyful full stop
05:27to some of the work that I was doing on this job.
05:30The medley, I love the medley.
05:32And I'm most proud of that sequence.
05:35Honestly, it's one of my favorite things that we shot.
05:38And then the national anthem also,
05:41just capturing it and the edit and the energy of it
05:45and really capturing the excitement of everybody
05:48that was watching at home
05:49and the excitement of the crowd that was there
05:51and the exuberance of her performance
05:55and the kind of rallying nature of it.
05:58Those two are my favorites.
06:01And there's such a layered kind of queer relationship
06:03that is explored between Whitney and Robin in this.
06:06And I was just curious what was most important to you
06:08about portraying their relationship.
06:10Most important part of it was to show the love
06:12and the adoration, which I believe was the foundation
06:15that they shared for one another
06:18and the loyalty that Robin had towards her
06:21and just to show that soulmates come in all different forms,
06:25although they were able to explore them all.
06:27But whether they were in a relationship or not,
06:29they were truly soulmates.
06:31Take the romance out of it.
06:32It just was real pure love that they had for each other.
06:35And I just really wanted that to come across.
06:37I also was just really careful
06:39in the way that I represented Robin.
06:42I wanted to approach that with a lot of, you know, care
06:47and, you know, just being sensitive
06:49that I'm playing a real person too.
06:51Obviously you're doing what's in the script, right?
06:53So what's in the script is really all you can do.
06:59There were times when I wish there had been more
07:02because he was so interesting
07:05and that relationship was really interesting.
07:08But ultimately it's her story.
07:11It's the Whitney Houston story.
07:12It's not the Clive Davis story.
07:14So that's really all that matters.
07:16It's my job to serve the script.
07:19I mean, there are a lot of things
07:20I wish I had more time to focus on.
07:22And, you know, earlier cuts were much longer, you know,
07:26and we would stay kind of in scenes
07:29and in relationships longer.
07:31I really love her relationship with her mother.
07:33That was a really moving relationship to me.
07:36And there's scenes with her mother that,
07:39that I wish we could, you know,
07:40I wish we could have included
07:42or that we could have stayed in longer.
07:44I wish we could have more Robin,
07:47even though there's quite a bit of her in the movie.
07:49I never got tired of her.
07:50They were amazing together.
07:53They just lit each other up and, you know,
07:55it's a wonderful capturing chemistry between actors
07:58is one of the things directors live for, right?
08:00That's like, it's like the gold.
08:02And I just, I really enjoyed that.
08:05And there were, there were a lot of things, you know,
08:09a lot of even musical performances
08:11and iconic things that she did that we,
08:14that weren't included.
08:16I would go even deeper with,
08:18with her relationship with Clive and her father.
08:21I just, I think I would have gone deeper
08:22into each of the relationships.
08:25What was it like, that love?
08:28Millions of people.
08:35The best feeling I ever know.