Naomi Ackie to star as Whitney Houston in R&B singer's biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody

The biopic on music legend Whitney Houston has found its lead star in actor Naomi Ackie. The British actor, known for starring Netflix series The End of the F***ing World season two and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, is in final negotiations to portray Houston in the movie, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Titled I Wanna Dance With Somebody, the movie was announced in April by Grammy-winning producer Clive Davis, who will produce it along with the singer’s estate and Primary Wave. Anthony McCarten, the Oscar-nominated scribe of The Two Popes, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody, and The Theory Of Everything, will pen the script for the project. He will also produce the movie. Stella Meghie of The Photograph fame will helm the project. “We spent the better part of the last year in an exhaustive search for an actress who could embody Whitney Houston. Naomi Ackie impressed us at every stage of the process. I was moved by her ability to capture the stage presence of a global icon while bringing humanity to her interior life,” Meghie said. The film will track the story of Houston from her musical beginnings through her tragic death in 2012. The makers have described it as a “joyous, emotional and heart-breaking celebration of the life and music of the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time”. The movie will benefit from the use of Houston’s many hit songs. I Wanna Dance With Somebody will be produced by Pat Houston on behalf of the Houston Estate, Davis, Larry Mestel on behalf of Primary Wave Music, Denis O’Sullivan, and McCarten through his Muse of Fire Productions banner.