Whitney (2015 film)
Whitney | |
---|---|
Genre | Biographical drama |
Based on | Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown |
Written by | Shem Bitterman |
Directed by | Angela Bassett |
Starring | Yaya DaCosta Arlen Escarpeta Yolonda Ross Suzzanne Douglas |
Theme music composer | RedOne Wuff Dan Sundquist Travon Potts |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Larry Sanitsky Kyle A. Clark Lina Wong |
Cinematography | Anastas N. Michos |
Editor | Richard Comeau |
Running time | 88 mins |
Production companies | Sanitsky Company SilverScreen Pictures |
Original release | |
Network | Lifetime |
Release | January 17, 2015 |
Whitney is a 2015 American
The movie stars Yaya DaCosta as Houston, Arlen Escarpeta as Brown and Yolonda Ross as Houston's longtime friend and road manager Robyn Crawford. Whitney is set in a period of five years (1989–1994) when Houston was catapulted to worldwide success due to her film debut The Bodyguard and its subsequent soundtrack. Filming lasted 20 days, primarily occurring in Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, California.
Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox performs all of Houston's vocals in the film, including "I Will Always Love You", "I'm Your Baby Tonight", "I'm Every Woman", "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Greatest Love of All". Additionally, songwriting/production team The Jackie Boyz performed Brown's vocals for "Every Little Step" in the Soul Train Awards scene.
Synopsis
In 1989,
Whitney begins recording her third album
Whitney and Bobby continue to date for a number of years, with Brown proposing to her by late 1991, and the two are married by the summer of 1992. Around this time, Kevin Costner handpicks Houston to star in what will become her film debut The Bodyguard. Though she is initially reluctant, Bobby encourages her to proceed. While on the set of The Bodyguard, Houston suffers a miscarriage, causing her to become very sickly. Cissy visits and persuades Whitney to leave Bobby, but Whitney refuses.
Whitney struggles to keep up with fame and placate Bobby, whose career has taken a back seat to hers, as she continues to dabble with drug use after their daughter Bobbi Kristina is born. Soon after, The Bodyguard and its subsequent soundtrack becomes massively successful, leading Whitney to tour internationally for nearly two years.
The pressure continues to grow for both Whitney and Bobby, primarily Whitney, who continues to abuse drugs at the height of her stardom. Bobby deals with his situation similarly after losing his childhood friend Steve in gun violence.
Cast
- Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston
- Arlen Escarpeta as Bobby Brown
- Yolonda Ross as Robyn Crawford
- Suzzanne Douglas as Cissy Houston
- Mark Rolston as Clive Davis
- Wesley Jonathan as Babyface
- Reign Morton as Eddie Murphy
- Nafessa Williams as Kim
- James A. Watson, Jr. as John Houston
- Deborah Lacey as Dionne Warwick (credited as "Award Presenter")
- Cornelius Smith Jr. as Michael Houston
- Tongayi Chirisa as Gary Houston
- Billy "Sly" Williams as Pastor Marvin Winans
- Saundra McClain as Aunt Bae
- Deborah Joy Winans as CeCe Winans
- Tim Bowman Jr. as BeBe Winans
- Hampton Fluker as Steve
- Kevontay Jackson as Club/Street Gangbanger (credited as "Gangbanger")
Critical reception
Whitney has received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and holds a 62% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[3] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 54%, based on 17 reviews.[4]
Whitney received a total of 4.5 million viewers during its premiere.[5]
Accolades
Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Director, TV Movie or Limited Series | Angela Bassett | Nominated | [6] |
Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series | Yaya DaCosta | Nominated | ||
Directors Guild of America Awards, USA | Outstanding Directing in Miniseries or TV Film | Angela Bassett | Nominated | [7] |
Imagen Awards | Best Primetime Program: Special or Made-for-TV-Movie | Whitney | Nominated | [8] |
Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild | Best Contemporary Makeup | Marietta Carter-Narcisse and Noreen Wilkie | Nominated | [9] |
Best Contemporary Hair Styling | Emanuel Millar and Rhonda O'Neal | Won | ||
NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture, Television | Shem Bitterman | Nominated | [10] |
See also
- The Bobby Brown Story, a two-part miniseries that aired in 2018 on BET. Gabrielle Dennis portrays Houston in this miniseries.
- Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a 2022 biopic starring Naomi Ackie as Houston. Ashton Sanders portrays Brown in the film, in addition to Nafessa Williams playing Robyn Crawford.
References
- ^ "First-Time Director Angela Bassett Defends Her Whitney Houston Biopic - ABC News". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (January 13, 2016). "DGA Awards Nominations Set For TV & Documentaries". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
- ^ "Whitney". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Whitney (2015)". Metacritic.
- ^ Blas, Lorena (2015-01-19). "Lifetime's 'Whitney' lures 4.5 million viewers". USAToday. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
- ^ "16th Annual Black Reel Award Nominations". Archived from the original on 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
- ^ Tapley, Kristopher (January 12, 2016). "Alejandro G. Inarritu, Tom McCarthy, Adam McKay, George Miller, Ridley Scott Land DGA Nominations". Variety. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
- ^ Lowe, Kinsey (August 22, 2015). "'McFarland, USA', George Lopez & Zoe Saldana Win At Imagen Awards". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
- ^ Giardina, Carolyn (February 2, 2016). "Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards: The Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
- ^ "47th NAACP Image Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. February 4, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
External links
- Whitney at IMDb