Whitney Houston is the latest music icon to have her story coming to the big screen, to be produced by Clive Davis and Pat Houston.
According to a Deadline exclusive, the project is currently titled "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," after the singer's 1987 chart-topping single. Stella Meghie, Canadian director behind "Everything, Everything" and "The Photograph," is set to direct the Houston biopic. Meanwhile, Anthony McCarten, New Zealand writer behind "The Theory of Everything" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," is working on the film's screenplay.
Clive Davis, Whitney's mentor, and Pat Houston, the singer's manager and sister-in-law, will be representing Whitney Houston's estate, which means that the full music catalog of "The Prom Queen of Soul" will be available for the creation of the film.
A press release says that the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic will be "a joyous, emotional and heart-breaking celebration" of Whitney Houston's life and music from the start of her career. The statement also promises what, while it will be very frank on the price of Houston's stardom, it will still be a rich yet complex saga of searching for the perfect marriage between song and singer and audience. The movie also intends to tell the story of a "simple Jersey girl trying to find her way back home."
Reports say that the project is not yet tied to any major studio and is currently independently financed.
The Prom Queen of Soul
Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston, the American singer-actress from New Jersey began singing in church before doing background vocals in high school. At the young age of 19, she signed a contract with Arista Records.
Her first two albums, the debut "Whitney Houston" in 1985 and "Whitney" in 1987, topped the Billboard 200. She also holds the record for having seven consecutive chart-toppers in the Hot 100 - from 1985's "Saving All My Love For You" to 1988's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go."
Whitney Houston then had her acting debut in the romance-thriller film "The Bodyguard" in 1992. Aside from the starring opposite Kevin Costner, Houston also worked on the movie's soundtrack, including the Grammy Record of the Year "I Will Always Love You."
She later recorded soundtracks for other films, "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife," where she also starred alongside Denzel Washington.
Where Do Broken Hearts Go?
The superstar started getting lousy press by appearing late for her commitments - interviews, rehearsals, and photoshoots. Houston even started canceling concerts and TV appearances, leading multiple media sources to report alleged substance abuse with her husband, Bobby Brown.
After a six-year hiatus from recording, Houston released "I Look To You" in 2009, which became her last album. She passed away in February 2012, coinciding with that year's Grammy Awards. The singer was found unconscious in the bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Houston was Guinness World Records' most awarded female artist of all time, with more than 400 career awards, including six Grammys and two Emmys. She was also the first recipient of the BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and was later inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013.
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