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Whitney (Lifetime)

aradia22

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Bill C.

Bill C.

Lifetime.  Of course.

 

But seriously: those shots of Yaya (who?) as Whitney are borderline uncanny.  And the movie's being directed by Angela Bassett, which could either be really good or really bad.  I suppose it can't be any stranger than Anna Nicole.

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Taylorh2

Taylorh2

Apparently Whitney's daughter is pissed at Bassett for not casting her to play her mother. Bobbi Kristina  looks NOTHING like Whitney Huston. In my opinion it would have been a mistake that I don't think the audience could get past.

 

I agree that Yaya is a dead ringer for Huston, and she can sing.

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aradia22

aradia22

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Taylor, if that's true, it's ridiculous. I agree that Bobbi Kristina doesn't look much like her mom and the times we've heard her sing have been underwhelming. I don't think Yaya looks just like Whitney but she's closer. Off the top of my head I can't think of a good Whitney look alike. If they were serious about it, it would have to be an unknown. 

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Sun-Bun

Sun-Bun

Lifetime. Of course.

But seriously: those shots of Yaya (who?) as Whitney are borderline uncanny. And the movie's being directed by Angela Bassett, which could either be really good or really bad. I suppose it can't be any stranger than Anna Nicole.

Yaya Decosta was actually the 1st runner up on the 3rd "Cycle"/season of "America's Next Top Model." A lot of folks honestly thought she was the better pick than the actual winner, Eva Pigford/Larue---ironically enough, Eva has gone on to have just as much success in various acting roles here and there as Yaya, although Yaya has done more major film roles while Eva has mainly done television roles.

Anyways, hopefully Yaya brings a decent amount of cred to this role. I think she looks close enough to Whitney to pull her off, unlike most of the laughable casting choices that Lifetime is becoming infamous for with their bad bio films.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

At least Yaya seems like she might be an okay actress.

 

I remember her playing the adopted daughter of Angie Hubbard on the soap All My Children (when it was still on TV on ABC, not the short-lived online reboot).

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JBC344

JBC344

Yaya was also on Ugly Betty as Vanessa Williams daughter.  She replaced the original actress when the role got bigger later in the run.  She also played Mark Ruffalo's casual girlfriend in "The Kids are Alright".  She has a good little career going.  Both her and Eva have done well.

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aradia22

aradia22

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Yaya was also on Ugly Betty as Vanessa Williams daughter.  She replaced the original actress when the role got bigger later in the run.

Oh, God. I totally forgot about that. I don't think she was that great but it's hard to tell with a show that campy. From the small bits we see in the trailer, it does seem like she's trying. I can get past an actor or actress not looking exactly like the person (though of course it's better when the casting people put in a little bit of effort) if they really make an attempt to mimic the person with accents and mannerisms and speech patterns and gait, etc.

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Rick Kitchen

Rick Kitchen

 

I can get past an actor or actress not looking exactly like the person (though of course it's better when the casting people put in a little bit of effort)

 

Ugh, the previews for Selma have me fuming over this very point.  They couldn't even get makeup to make these actors look like the real people?

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methodwriter85

methodwriter85

Wow, it actually look like they put in some effort and money to this, as opposed to a certain biopic about a recently deceased young actress who shall go unnamed that was shot on a 10-dollar budget. You have to though- you simply can't make a biopic about a famous pop singer on the cheap, if you want any chance of getting the music rights.

 

I really trust Angela Bassett not to make this into a train wreck.

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blackwing

blackwing

I remember Yaya DaCosta, I think that was the only season of America's Next Top Model I watched.  I liked both her and Eva Pigford (who is now known as Eva Marcille.  Eva LaRue is a soap opera actress best known as Maria Santos Grey on "All My Children".)

 

I think this could be good.  Not sure at all why Bobbi Kristina would want to be in this movie... I would think the events might be too close to her liking.

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Avaleigh

Avaleigh

Angela was on WWHL and Andy asked her about the whole Bobbi Kristina thing. Angela pointed out that they had an open audition so that Bobbi Kristina could have tried out for the role if she'd really wanted to. Apparently they also made it seem like the family feels that a movie about Whitney's life should have been a theatrical release.

 

Wendy Williams thought that Deborah Cox did a good job with the vocals but I don't put any faith in that considering how great she claimed the Aaliyah movie was going to be. 

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aradia22

aradia22

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Ah! Thank God for previously. I almost missed it.

I'm not claiming the jerry curl is the best hairstyle in the world but what in the hell do they have on that actor's head?

Lols at performing to a dark theatre so you don't see that it's mostly empty. I think she's doing a decent job of mimicking Whitney's performance and the vocals are good without being a perfect recreation but there's still a major lip-synching disconnect.

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neciamorris

neciamorris

First problem. They shouldn't have bothered if they couldn't get Whitney's recordings. I'm sorry, I don't want to watch a Whitney Houston biopic withOUT hearing WHITNEY HOUSTON sing and certainly not whoever they have doing a poor Whitney Houston imitiation. Changing back to Hindsight.

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aradia22

aradia22

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Oh, Mylanta. This is sickening. I did not sign up to watch The Bobby Brown story. We opened with one of his songs instead of hers. He wouldn't dream of touching drugs. And way too much of the dialogue seems to be in service of telling us more about him instead of about her.

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Enero

Enero

(edited)

Oh, Mylanta. This is sickening. I did not sign up to watch The Bobby Brown story. We opened with one of his songs instead of hers. He wouldn't dream of touching drugs. And way too much of the dialogue seems to be in service of telling us more about him instead of about her.

Yeah I was stunned when they had Bobby say he doesn't do coke! What?! When he did VH1 behind the music he admitted straight up that he was doing coke before Whitney.

That said, so far I think the story is okay. We'll see how things progress though...

Edited by Enero
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aradia22

aradia22

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Why don't they let us see the interesting parts? How about show her singing in church instead of putting in a random scene at dinner to talk about it? Why not show her rise to fame instead of having a random meeting with Clive Davis to hint at it? Also, pointless sex scene. WHY?

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Enero

Enero

(edited)

Well this is Lifetime so you just know it's going to be all about the salacious drama instead of the true roots of how artist came to be.

Edited by Enero
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aradia22

aradia22

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I would have liked to see the time in the Catholic girls' school.

Also, what the hell? First we get a scene to demonstrate his sexual prowess. Then he's so in love he leaves because she won't commit. Then she does drugs BY HERSELF. I could not be rolling my eyes harder.

She meets a new character (and why is that actor so familiar?) and she can't help herself from asking about Bobby again. Who wrote this movie... Bobby Brown?

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Enero

Enero

(edited)

I know right! Though I do think they are avoiding Bobby's drug usage right now because they're trying to show that in the beginning they had a connection that had nothing to do with the drugs.

I too would've liked to have seen her time at Catholic school and how her and Robin met and became friends. Where is Robin anyway? Wasn't she living with Whitney while she was dating Bobby.

Was that supposed to be LA and Babyface? Argh. SMH.

They are soo overdoing it with the sex scenes.

Edited by Enero
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aradia22

aradia22

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And s'more sex. Wonderful.

Wasn't her mom a big part of her life? Why are we just meeting her right now?

I think the parents being against them getting married is somehow worse in this movie than in the Aaliyah movie.

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Enero

Enero

They've totally missed the boat with her family and fans having issues with her being involved with and now engaged to Bobby. It's like she's living in a bubble. She said a lot of people wouldn't like the fact that she's marry Bobby, but we didn't SEE that. Also there as been almost no focus on her career. Instead of Whitney this should've been called Whitney and Bobby's relationship.

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Dejana

Dejana

(edited)

They actually get the real songs this time, plus a strong performance from Yaya and it's all wasted on portraying Bobby Brown as a Boy Scout (a sexy Boy Scout, but still). Seriously, you can show that he didn't drag the pure, innocent pop angel from her pedestal into a life of drugs and trashiness, without making him out to be Mr. Squeaky Clean Father of the Year. Also, given the pacing the movie is going to conveniently stop short of the worst of Whitney's downward spiral. Fits right in with Lifetime taking on interesting topics only to back away from the edgiest elements.

Edited by Dejana
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aradia22

aradia22

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Back to that bathroom with the drugs. Also, like almost all of the Lifetime movies this is a series of vignettes instead of a coherent narrative.

@Enero I was thinking of calling it "Whitney Loves Bobby." It's not about Whitney. It's not even really about him. It's not about their relationship like the Sonny and Cher movie. It's specifically about her loving him.

"All the woman I need"? Are they going to argue that Bobby inspired "All The Man That I Need?"

I don't think they did a great job of establishing how religious their family apparently was. They really should have started with young Whitney.

There's no buildup really so I can't care about this miscarriage. Who writes these Lifetime scripts?

Oh, hooray for Bobby Brown or we wouldn't have The Bodyguard.

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Enero

Enero

(edited)

This is total BS. A clean cut, Boy Scout, occasional beer drinking, no drugs Bobby is now giving up his career for Whitney. 'I've made the label enough money' he says. What?! I don't for one second believe that happened.

arcadia - I agree. Whitney Loves Bobby - all is right with the world...for now.

Edited by Enero
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Queena

Queena

Oh, Mylanta. This is sickening. I did not sign up to watch The Bobby Brown story. We opened with one of his songs instead of hers. He wouldn't dream of touching drugs. And way too much of the dialogue seems to be in service of telling us more about him instead of about her.

He didn't say that he didn't do coke. He said that he wasn't fond of doing it to often. Not that he didn't indulge at all. I think that point was to illustrate that Whitney did drugs before Bobby.

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aradia22

aradia22

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They had a child orchestra at their wedding?

I do appreciate the slightly harsh wedding makeup. I wish they'd go for it a little more with the makeup and hair so it felt more like it was set in the past.

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aradia22

aradia22

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She earned that right? We don't know that. This is script writing 101. You show the toll of touring and selling albums and making movies so later we care when she wants to take time off to be a mom.

Guys, I'm confused. Aren't we on the live blog?

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Tiger

Tiger

Even the interview questions are leading in an extreme degree to paint Bobby Brown in the best light possible.

 

All snark aside, do he and Angela Bassett have some sort of association?  Because I can't fathom why she and the network are clearly working their butts off to make him look good . . .

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gatopretoNYC

gatopretoNYC

I'm having problems with the live blog.

 

Man, this movie SUCKS! Geez.

 

My husband's take on this so far: "Oh, shmooopie, shmoopie."


I need some drugs to get through the rest of this. My glass of wine ain't cutting it.

 

BOBBBAY!

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BoogieBurns

BoogieBurns

and why is that actor so familiar?

 

I think you are talking about the guy playing Babyface? They never made it clear if he was supposed to be Babyface or LA Reid. But that actor, Wesley Jonathan, is from What I Like About You, City Guys, and lots of other things. But he looks familiar to me because he and Nick Cannon are so similar. I thought he was playing the part of Nick Cannon and wondered what role he played in Whitney's life. 

 

Also, this movie told us nothing we didn't already know. So, I call it a fail.

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