The holiday movie season is around the corner and one of the biggest biopics of the year just dropped its second trailer. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” starring Naomi Ackie as the late singer, highlights the life and career of music titan Whitney Houston.
The upcoming film is described as a “no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman.” It hits theaters in time for Christmas. According to the official synopsis that theGrio obtained, audiences will take an “inspirational, poignant — and so emotional — journey through Houston’s trailblazing life and career, with show-stopping performances and a soundtrack of the icon’s most beloved hits as you’ve never heard them before.”
The first trailer highlighted the titular hit song of “The Voice,” but this second trailer centers around one of her other hits and one of the biggest songs of all time: her cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which was recorded for “The Bodyguard” soundtrack.
Diving deep into some of the more complex and intense aspects of Houston’s career, the trailer kicks off with an interviewer questioning her about her music not being “Black enough.” Ackie’s Houston responds, “Who said that? That’s just bull and it makes me angry, actually it’s hateful and uninformed. My whole life, ‘She ain’t Black enough, she ain’t white enough.’ Well how about, ‘She’s not obedient enough?’ How about, ‘She ain’t fearful enough?'”
She adds in the trailer, “I sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be and reach as big an audience as I can.” The trailer then weaves through various moments in Houston’s life, from her strained relationship with her father, to her marriage to Bobby Brown, and of course, her iconic performance at Super Bowl XXV.
The film, as theGrio previously reported, has the full blessing of the Houston estate, unlike other attempted biopics. Producers have access to her entire catalog, which is a focal point in both trailers.
The film also stars Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown, Tamara Tunie as Cissy Houston, Nafessa Williams as Robyn Crawford and Clarke Peters as her father John Houston.
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” premieres on Dec. 23.
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