The late Whitney Houston comes to life in the remake of the 1976 movie Sparkle, which features and all-star cast including Jordin Sparks, Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumpter, Mike Epps, Derek Luke, Omari Hardwick and the Houston.
The movie which hits theaters today, centers on three sisters who form a singing group and struggle with fame and drug addiction while attempting to navigate the music industry.
During an emotional scene in the movie, Houston, who plays the mother of Sparks, Ejogo and Sumpter, asks “was my life not enough of a cautionary tale?” During an interview with theGrio, Sparks talks about whether or not Houston’s life is indeed a cautionary tale.
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“Being in that scene and filming it, I remember when she said it, and she was looking at us,” Sparks told theGrio’s entertainment editor, Chris Witherspoon. “I just remember having chills, because it so applies, and that she’s not here it even holds more weight.”
“She [Whitney] knew that there were parallels of her story and Sister’s story and the movie in general, she knew that those were there, and she wasn’t ashamed to talk about it, and I think it was one thing that made her so proud to be telling it, because she was ready. It’s now up to us to remind people of that Whitney, and who she was. And it was so important to her, this film, that it’s now become equally if not more important to us to represent it in the right way for her.”
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC