Some people are so big, it’s almost impossible to think of any actor portraying them. But when they do, and do it right, like Naomi Ackie has as Whitney Houston in ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ (December 23), it’s magic. “How do you humanize someone who you’ve held to such high esteem for so long? That is what she needs, though,” Ackie told Newsweek’s Parting Shot. Ackie says “I initially came in being like ‘I have to be exactly like Whitney,’” but admits, “I’m not a shapeshifter, but I do know how to tell a good story.” While she thought she knew Houston’s story, like so many of us, she only knew part of it. Growing up, Whitney “served me with her music, and I just thought it was a given. I didn’t think about the backstory. I didn’t know.” Perhaps part of the reason why we didn’t know was that “her illness of addiction wasn’t dealt with, there was an unkindness about [not] empathizing what it must feel like to have so many people expect so much of you all the time.” But ultimately, Ackie hopes this film can be a “small part of undoing some of that work.”

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