Whitney Houston Biopic Puts Yaya DaCosta In Lead
Yaya DaCosta, the model just picked to play Whitney Houston in an upcoming Lifetime biopic, seems to have what it will take to get “So Emotional” over living much of her adult life with Bobby Brown.
DaCosta, in addition to being tossed through the ringer for season three of America’s Next Top Model, is well-attuned to highly emotional responses from her time in roles on House; as the daughter of Ugly Betty‘s Wilhelmina Slater; and (most notably, in terms of histrionics) All My Children.
She’s also no stranger to longer-form film, just appearing in Lee Daniel’s The Butler. But the as-yet-unnamed Whitney Houston docudrama will be her first lead role.
According to TV Line, which broke the DaCosta story, Angela Bassett, 55, who starred alongside the late Whitney Houston in Waiting to Exhale in 1995, will direct the unofficial biopic of the diva, who was found accidentally drowned at just 48 in her bathtub just a few years ago.
The movie will chronicle Pop Barbie’s rise to stardom alongside her notoriously rocky relationship to Pop Ken, Bobby Brown. The couple, together from 1992 to 2007, have a 21-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina.
DaCosta clearly has a similar allure, so expect an uncanny transition to a time when our 1980s hair was as big as Whitney Houston’s full-throttle forte at the “Greatest Love of All…” bridge.
The movie, which is due out sometime in 2015, will present an unflinching and fair portrait of the couple’s highs and lows.
Bassett told US Weekly in a statement that she couldn’t help but portray Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown as fairly as possible:
“I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments; and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story…. Their humanity and bond fascinates us all. I’m beyond excited to have this opportunity to go behind the camera and into their world.”
Perhaps this view behind the camera will be more nuanced than 2005’s reality series Being Bobby Brown. On name alone, its chalking up to be so much better.
Still, it’s unclear whether Bassett will have Houston performing the singing duties through the magic of modern editing, with DaCosta pulling the stunt-singing, or maybe DaCosta has another part of her repertoire to reveal to the masses.
In any case, it seems this will remain an unofficial biopic, as far as the Houston estate is concerned, until at least the movie comes out and proves its authenticity. In that, Bassett has a tall order but she also has legions of waiting fans at Lifetime to give her movie modest earnings whether it turns out critically panned or praised.
[Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
