Whitney Houston star Naomi Ackie explains initial “reluctance” to play her

"There was a little bit of reluctance, you know," she said about first auditioning for the part. "I had to be really talked into doing this or to audition.

"Because it was definitely like, 'I don't look like Whitney, I don't sound like Whitney, I'm not a singer.' I remember I gave them a list when I had the meeting with the producers, I gave them a list of reasons why I shouldn't do it."

She added: "I was like, 'I know my agent is going to kill me but here is a list of why this should not work.' So there was a lot of fear, but at the same time the part of me that can't help but throw her hat into the ring, I couldn't help it. I was just like, 'Well who knows? And you know, if they are hiring me, I need to trust that it's for a reason.'"

In the end, Ackie proved she was very much the right fit for the role with an outstanding performance in the film – and she explained that there were a huge amount of resources available to her that helped shape her performance.

This included the wealth of footage that was shot of Houston during her lifetime, but also more crucially the books written about her by those who knew her best.

"The books were the most useful because it was seeing Whitney through the eyes of people who were the closest to her," Ackie said. "And then talking to people was also very useful for the same reason. The YouTube videos and stuff was amazing, but it was public-facing Whitney. And that was kind of not what most of this film is, it's trying to figure out what her private world is."

She continued: "The kind of heart of Whitney was found in the reading of the books, especially the ones written by Cissy Houston and Robyn Crawford – two kind of different points of view from two people that were very close to her. And then talking to her family and talking to Clive [Davis] and anyone else who worked with her – luckily, there were a lot of people working on our set who had worked also with Whitney."

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is released in cinemas on Friday 23rd December 2022. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.

The Christmas double issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.