Kasi Lemmons Photo Courtesy of Variety
Professor Kasi Lemmons will direct the late Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody for TriStar Pictures.
The screenplay is written by Academy Award nominee Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody) and will take audiences on an emotional, energetic journey through Houston’s career and music, with Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) to star. The film is being produced by Pat Houston on behalf of the Houston Estate. “We are so pleased to be working with a talented and visionary female director such as Kasi Lemmons,” said Pat Houston. “We know that Whitney’s legacy is safe in her hands and that she will showcase the once-in-a-lifetime icon that Whitney was.”
“Early in my writing career I developed two projects for Whitney, and I had the opportunity to meet her,” Lemmons told Deadline. “She was a tremendous, incomparable artist, and her story is as awe-inspiring as it is tragic. I feel privileged to be part of bringing her life story and music to the audience.”
Sony and TriStar Pictures will release the film in theaters at Thanksgiving in 2022.
Read more at Deadline.