Naomi Ackie stars in ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’
Opening in theaters on December 23rd is the new biopic about singer and actress Whitney Houston entitled ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,’ which was directed by Kasi Lemmons (‘Eve’s Bayou’).
Naomi Ackie (‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’) stars as Whitney Houston, as the film examines her life, career, and relationships with her parents Cissy (Tamara Tunie) and John (Clarke Peters), her mentor Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci), and her friend and assistant Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Naomi Ackie about her work on ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,’ playing the music icon, getting her moves right, and working with Nafessa Williams on Robyn and Whitney’s relationship.
Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
Moviefone: To begin with, What does it mean to you both personally and professionally, to have the opportunity to play Whitney Houston and to be a part of telling her story?
Naomi Ackie: It’s a huge deal. It’s been a really life-changing event in my life. It was a catalyst for a lot of lessons for me, at a really important turning point in my life. From a career aspect, but also on a personal level, the things that I learnt about how I like to work and the connections that I have made, have really changed the course of my life, and I am really grateful for that.
Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
MF: I wanted to ask you about your approach to playing Whitney because you had all her moves down right, from every shoulder shrug, to every finger point and hand raise. Can you talk about really studying her as a performer?
NA: It took about eight months to really feel comfortable enough to begin to play, so it was a lot of technical stuff. In terms of movement, I worked with my friend and also my movement coach. We went through every single live performance we could find, and looked for patterns within those performances.
Then we actually ended up giving them names too. It was like a whole thing. We did it all over the summer, and there is a video of me where my friend shouts out the name of a move and I’d do the thing. So, by the time we came out and she was choreographing the bigger performances that I was doing, she would shout out the name of the thing and I was like, I know what that is, and then do it. So, it was really fun as well. We laughed a lot. There was a lot of exploration to be had.
(L to R) Nafessa Williams and Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
MF: Finally, can you talk about Whitney’s relationship to Robyn Crawford, as it is depicted in the film, and working on that relationship with actress Nafessa Williams?
NA: I mean, for me and Nafessa, it was an instantaneous connection, and it was weird because it was on Zoom and it’s really hard to build up any kind of level of chemistry on that thing. But she was so amazing that it worked and we instantly were like, oh, this is it. Because really what you need for that relationship is two people who are really fond of each other and connected to each other, and have a great bond and a deep love for each other.
So, when we were discussing it, we were just so on the same page because that’s one of Whitney’s most important relationships in her life. I think it was one of her formative relationships when it came to friendship, when it came to love, and it changed over time in a beautiful way, and in a not so beautiful way. It’s complicated, and that’s the story that deserves to be told.
Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
