Sophia Michaels
Whitney Houston navigates the highs and hazards of stardom in the new trailer for the upcoming biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which is set to arrive in theaters Dec. 23.
An early scene from the new trailer finds Houston (played by Naomi Ackie) pushing back against a radio host who asks her about the criticism that her music “isn’t Black enough.” “That’s just bull,” Houston fires back. “And it makes me angry, actually. It’s hateful and uninformed. My whole life, ‘She ain’t Black enough, she ain’t white enough.’ … I sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be.”
The clip goes on to tease the scope of the film, with Ackie recreating several milestones from Houston’s career, like her landmark rendition of the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl. There are also moments of heavy drama, especially between Houston and her father, John (Clarke Peters), over some of his disastrous business decisions.
Along with Ackie as Houston, I Wanna Dance With Somebody will star Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown, and Tamara Tune as Houston’s mother, Cissy. The movie was directed by Kasi Lemmons and written by Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten.
