Actress and singer Naomi Ackie credits dialect coaches Tangela Large, Bridgette Jackson and Denise Woods with helping her immerse herself in the voice of the one and only Whitney Houston for the biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” and says nailing down Houston’s speaking voice was the key to inhabiting the role — especially since Ackie is English.
From Houston’s early choir days to catching her big break in the presence of legendary producer Clive Davis, to the more tumultuous moments of her career like her deterioration due to drugs and her declining marriage to rapper Bobby Brown, director Kasi Lemmons, Ackie, co-stars Nafessa Williams and Stanley Tucci as well as many more helped craft the prism through which audiences will glimpse the music artist in the TriStar Pictures release, now playing in theaters.
On top of mimicking Houston’s singing and performing techniques, Ackie also had to carefully remain in character with Whitney’s American accent, suppressing her British one.
“It took a really long time. It kind of starts from a technical place and then an expressive place afterwards,” she told TheWrap in a recent interview. “I worked with three amazing dialect coaches during the process and the reason why I’m naming them is because there are so few Black female dialect coaches, and it’s really important to highlight them. It was a challenge, and it was something that I needed to kind of go through when I was bad at it to get to a place where I felt comfortable, because obviously the sounds are so different and your tongue moves different. If I was talking in my American accent for a while my tongue starts to hurt and stuff.”
Ackie transformed into the “So Emotional” singer with additional help from a speech pathologist as well as a movement coach to fully embody Houston and all her mannerisms. She also wore false teeth to cover the gap in her two front teeth, as well as a range of 30 different wigs to capture Houston’s natural hair, the ’80s frizz, the flatter silkier looks of the ’90s and the more modern 2000s looks.
“The biggest thing that started to help was when I was unsettled, talking in an American accent with people constantly so I could explore different emotions too so that when I got emotional, I was still speaking in American accent and if Whitney was getting emotional, I could still hold on to the accent, express myself and not drop into East London,” she added, remarking that even a simple slipup like pronouncing ‘butter’ in her English accent could crack the whole illusion.
Movement coach Polly Bennett, who worked with Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Austin Butler in “Elvis,” helped Ackie re-create Houston’s signature postures.
“The hardest part I think was the finding the reasoning behind some of the ways that she moves because Polly, she helped me tell the story of why: Why does Whitney kind of move her hands with some some notes, and that reason is because she’s conducting the band behind her,” Ackie said. “So that means [that] energy is coming from her back so she sings from her back and that’s why her sound is so powerful. All of those kinds of things and connecting those dots were fascinating, but it took a long time it was a lot about patience, which I’m not very good at. It was very humbling to attempt something, not be very good and then have to go back and try again and get a little bit a little bit better. That patience thing was really hard.”
Ackie felt Houston take over most during her performances of “Home” on Merv Griffin as well as the film’s titular song “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
“I grew up with Whitney. She’s been a part of my life for a very long time. She’s comfortable, I’m comfortable with her voice,” Ackie said. “And then I kind of start to try to get to know her more intimately that when I was performing those things, and with all the work that I was doing beforehand, it just was like I could let go. And so every performance felt like that, most of the performances. Some are harder than others for sure.”
Director Kasi Lemmons saw Whitney most through Ackie in the performance of “I Didn’t Know my Own Strength” on The Oprah Winfrey show as well as the three-part “Impossible Medley” that closes the biopic.
“There were times when we would we would catch her reflected in the mirror interestingly, it was almost like a visitation,” Lemmons said. “It was very as beautiful and kind of spooky in a wonderful way. It was like we had been visited by Whitney, and I think that there were moments all the way through the film where [Naomi’s] really channeling her and really nails her.”
Nafessa Williams, who portrays one of Whitney’s first loves and her forever best friend Robyn, also saw Whitney appear during the medley — something Whitney herself doubted that she could even achieve.
“I had to stop myself from crying so many times because I looked at Naomi and I saw Whitney. You could just feel her essence and you can just feel her energy on set and it felt so divine that, as a fan, I had to like pull myself together and remember that I was like, actually here working,” Williams said. “The stamina that it takes for Naomi to do those scenes in and out day in and day out back to back over and over — it speaks to her professionalism, too, and it speaks to the way that she embodied Whitney. I think she did an amazing job, and I’m just really excited for her fans to see our reimagined version of of her life.”
Williams’ role of Robyn Crawford also drew out a different side of the singer.
“She brings out a lighter side of Whitney. A lot of [Whitney’s] lighter, happy, joyous moments are with Robyn. I think Robyn brings out a tender side of Whitney, which is really beautiful and was beautiful for me to explore,” she said. “The adoration that Robyn had and I think still has for Whitney was very important for me in creating my idea of Robyn, and I just love the responsibility of the relationship that they both upheld to each other.”
Both Williams and Lemmons refrained from labeling Whitney’s sexuality aside from ascribing her as fluid.
“No matter what it was, no matter who was with who, they still loved and remained loyal to each other. That’s what’s important to me — the foundation of friendship in this film — that’s what I want people to take away when they look at their relationship, romance or not,” Williams added. “They were true friends, and we’re not always blessed to have friends to that capacity, who’s going to protect us to no end and you know, ride out with us every step of the way.”
Stanley Tucci, who portrays Houston’s record producer Clive Davis, praised Ackie’s mimicry of Houston’s vocal processes as the times in which he witnessed Houston shine through most.
“When she’s re-creating the songs when she’s lip synching to the songs — because nobody can sing like Whitney Houston, which is sort of the point and the heart of the point of the film,” Tucci said. “But she did it so brilliantly, so effortlessly, so exactly. I was completely blown away.”
Even Davis himself, who executive produced the film, guided Ackie in her portrayal of the icon.
“The first time I met him in real life, we drove to his house, and we had lunch there and he just told me stories and he showed me pictures and we went to his cinema room where we watched those performances. He really highlighted to me what he wanted to see in the things he highlighted, what was special in each performance that, you know, was my job to to portray, which was great because he was able to see things that maybe I had missed.”
Apart from Davis’ insight as well as Lemmons’ direction and chemistry with co-star Williams to bring Whitney to life, Ackie learned so much about herself in the process.
“It helped me grow. I feel like I matured a lot during that film. Genuinely I had never taken on something this big before, and so I wanted to do my best, but I also was terrified and I think I learned how to handle my fear in a in a more productive way,” she said. “And that didn’t come without any kind of ups and downs. There were definitely moments where I probably could have handled my anxieties better. But all in all, I came out stronger and I came out more clear about what I want to create, and how I want to communicate to people so that I can do my job the best way that I know how and I can keep on improving.”
“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is now playing exclusively in theaters.