The much-anticipted new film about the life and loves of the singer might be approved by the estate but the makers aren’t looking to ‘flatter anybody’
In the 10 years since Whitney Houston lost her life, four movies have tried to tell her story. In quick succession, we got an unauthorized documentary, an endorsed one, a Lifetime TV depiction, plus a film that focused squarely on her relationship with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina. According to Anthony McCarten, who has written the first big budget Hollywood biopic of the star, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, those films all had one thing in common. “They’re obsessed with her mistakes,” he said to the Guardian. “They were all sensationalist.”
At the same time, he believes they accurately mirrored the jaundiced view many have long held of the star. “When people hear the name ‘Whitney Houston,’ they inevitably say the word ‘tragic,’” McCarten said. “It’s a universal perception. In some respects, this film is a corrective to that.”
