Lifetime saw a wicked backlash for its last music biopic "Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B." It will hope for a better response for the TV movie "Whitney," spotlighting the rise and fall of singing sensation Whitney Houston.
The Lifetime original movie, starring Yaya DaCosta in the lead role, will premiere on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. DaCosta will star opposite Arlen Escarpeta, who plays Houston's turbulent lover Bobby Brown. The film also marks the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett.
"Whitney" chronicles the up-and-down relationship of Houston and former New Edition member Brown from the time they first met at the very height of their celebrity to their courtship and tumultuous marriage. Throughout it all, difficulties followed the superstar couple while they dealt with the overwhelming rewards and consequences of the fame and fortune created by Houston's meteoric rise that would soon overshadow them both.
While DaCosta will play Houston on screen, Grammy-nominated singer Deborah Cox will perform some of Houston's greatest hits. Song will include "The Greatest Love of All," "I'm Your Baby Tonight," "I'm Every Woman" and "I Will Always Love You," as well as Brown's "Every Little Step."
Bassett received criticism from Houston's family about the upcoming biopic, especially from Houston's mother Cissy Houston who claimed, "No one connected with this movie knew Whitney or anything about her relationship with Bobby." The 56-year-old director did know Houston and the two worked together on the 1995 film "Waiting to Exhale."
"I did spend a little time [with] her, but to know her intimately, intimately - I mean, who does but the person and the Lord they serve? Who knows a person?" Bassett told HuffPost Live in October.
The "American Horror Story" star defended her film and compared her experience in the entertainment industry as similar to Houston's as a black woman from a small town with an extraordinary talent.
"But I know a little about being in the spotlight, a little about celebrity and its demands, a little about trying to find a mate and the support that's need in your industry - mine being acting, hers [the] music industry. I know about being a woman, about being a black woman that came up in a little hometown... and yet you are able to become a success because of this God-given talent. So I know a little bit about what it might have been like," Bassett said.
