Video: ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Brings Whitney Houston to Life

Just from the trailer, I cannot wait to see the Whitney Houston biopic, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody." 

Naomi Ackie is the actress playing Whitney Houston, and she's having a moment  - or maybe "one Moment in Time."

You might know the Ackie from 2016’s Lady Macbeth.  She was also in the TV comedies Master Of None and The End Of The F***ing World, and then a little movie called Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker.   She's now a leading lady for the first time in her career, and she's playing a musical icon.

Ackie brings Whitney Houston back to us all. She says she watched Houston’s videos and interviews. “When you surround yourself with a subject for a really long time, it starts to subconsciously go into your body,” she says.

 I Wanna Dance With Somebody follows the singer from being discovered by Arista Records executive Clive Davis (played by Stanley Tucci) in the early 1980s to her sad, and far too early death at the age of 48 in 2012.

Ackie says one particular gesture really unlocked Houston’s physicality.  She talks about an interview on YouTube- "she does this thing with her hand a lot. And that was the first thing I used to practice.” But it took many, many hours of watching and practicing for Ackie to overcome the apprehension of playing such a memorable, and loved public figure.

Ackie says, “The little things were what I would hold on to and practice, really practice during the day by myself...   a lot." She created a space where she felt like she could capture some of the essence of Whitney.

In the film moviegoers will hear Houston’s voice, with Ackie recreating many her popular music videos and iconic live performances.

What is Naomi Ackie's favorite Whitney song? Well it's also MY favorite song - "I’m Your Baby Tonight!" It's actually her favorite music video.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody hits Las Vegas theaters this Thursday, December 22!

-Carla Rea