The story behind the greatest voice of her generation is coming to the big screen. A trailer has dropped for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” Kasi Lemmons’ Whitney Houston biopic. In it, the “Greatest Love of All” singer, played by “The End of the F***ing World’s” Naomi Ackie, shares her dream: “sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be, reach as big an audience as I can.”
The spot depicts the former choir girl being discovered and becoming a radio mainstay. It also touches on criticism she faced. “Your music isn’t Black enough,” she’s told.
Houston made her acting debut in “The Bodyguard,” a hit 1992 romance. The six-time Grammy winner sold more than 200 million records worldwide. She died in 2012. Two docs about her life and career were released posthumously, 2018’s “Whitney” and 2017’s “Whitney: Can I Be Me.”
Lemmons most recently helmed 2019’s “Harriet,” a Harriet Tubman biopic led by Cynthia Erivo. Her other films include “Eve’s Bayou” and “Black Nativity.”
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” hits theaters December 21.
