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Yaya DaCosta Admits How Terrifying it Was to Play Whitney Houston—and the "Magic Words" That Saved Her

Plus, Angela Bassett explains why the movie doesn't address the later years

By Kristin Dos Santos Jan 17, 2015 5:30 PMTags
Yaya DaCosta, Whitney HoustonJack Zeman/Lifetime 2014; Arista Records

Almost three years after the death of one of music's greatest icons—and perhaps the greatest voice of all time—Lifetime's biopic about Whitney Houston is finally coming out.

Titled Whitney, and executive produced by Angela Bassett, the TV movie airs tonight, and is bound to elicit strong reactions from viewers. Some will love it. Some will haaaaate it.

One thing few will dispute, though: Star Yaya DaCosta nails it. Big time. (And big hair. And big shoulder pads.) 

What is perhaps most surprising, though, is that the story focuses only on the early portion of Whitney's career, from the time she met Bobby until about 14 years before her death. So really, none of the truly salacious and controversial years are included—aside from an occasional shot of Whitney doing drugs, her miscarriage on the set of The Bodyguard, and the allegations that Bobby Brown cheated on her.  The latter years really aren't addressed at all, until a graphic card is flashed briefly at the end.

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Florian Schneider/Lifetime 2014

"It would have been impossible to pack this great life into one movie," Bassett tells E! News. "We wanted to unpack a lot of those scenes."

The primary focus on the "good years" might be a disappointment to some viewers looking for answers as to what happened toward the end of her life, but should serve as some relief to Whitney's mother Cissy Houston, who has made it clear she's not happy with the film, and that she wishes people would just "let my baby rest." This biopic is really much more tame than it could have been, and for the most part, deeply respectful of Whitney and her legacy.

Still, given the controversy, and the monumental task of portraying Whitney Houston, actress Yaya DaCosta (who previously starred in Lee Daniels' The Butler, and was a former runner up on America's Next Top Model) told us that she found the role overwhelming and nerve-wracking at times.

"All the scenes were difficult to portray," DaCosta tells E! News. "And I've never said that before. I think no matter what kind of scene it was, remembering that there has to be a through line where you're staying true to a character that is not an invention of someone's imagination. And that this is a real person who really lived that everybody knows and loves. It was always very difficult. There was a pressure to keep it real and not be offensive and be as much as like the essence of her as possible."

Jack Zeman/Lifetime 2014

Though some of the script pages leave something to be desired, it's worth noting how much DaCosta resembles Houston in this role, and she mostly knocks it out of the park. And with very little time to prepare.

"I did a lot of research on YouTube and everything," DaCosta tells us. "But the preparation time was so short that the magic words and the key was really to accept that there was a reason I was doing this and that there was enough in myself that was similar to Whitney and I had to trust that. Angela would say, ‘You are everything.' And that echoed what I had been told by really only one person before, my acting coach when I was 11. ‘You are enough. You have enough. Just trust yourself.' Those are the magic words. At the end of the day, when you're on set especially when it's such a fast-paced project, I just had to trust myself."

See for yourself what you think of DaCosta's performance when Whitney airs tonight. Honestly, if only for the montage of amazing 80's and 90's outfits, we highly recommend. Shoulder-pad city. Good times.

—Reporting by Sydney Bucksbaum