The last time Lifetime premiered a biopic, it wasn’t received too well. Although Aaliyah: Princess of R&B received stellar ratings, it was probably because of this phenomenon called “hate watching.”
Hate watching is when you purposely watch a show even though you already have it in your head that the mess is going to suck. Unfortunately, many felt the Aaliyah movie lived up to people’s expectations of it as quite possibly the worst biopic ever created.
Could Lifetime’s next R&B-singer biopic redeem the network? Will people actually watch and not expect it to be a pile of hot mess? The world will have its chance to judge Angela Bassett’s directorial debut with Lifetime’s Whitney on Jan. 17.
The movie will chronicle Houston’s life through the lens of her tumultuous relationship with Bobby Brown. According to the press release, the film will show “the overwhelming rewards and consequences of the fame and fortune created by Houston’s meteoric rise that would soon overshadow them both.”
Yaya DaCosta will play Houston, and Arlen Escarpeta will portray Brown. Music used in the movie from Houston’s catalog will include “The Greatest Love of All,” “I’m Every Woman” and “I Will Always Love You,” which have been re-recorded for the movie by Deborah Cox.
Just as with the Aaliyah biopic, Houston’s family did not want the movie to happen.
“Please let her rest,” Cissy Houston asked of Lifetime in a statement. “I find it difficult to believe people who knew and supposedly loved her would participate in a movie about her done by folks who didn’t know her. We are exhausted by the continuing misinformation and comments offered by people who did not know her.”
Whitney will premiere Jan. 17, 2015, at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.