Bria Danielle Singleton has been cast as Bobbi Kristina Brown in the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
The teenage Thunder Force actress is part of the film’s supporting cast, The Wrap reported Thursday.
Bobbi Kristina was the only child of Houston and Bobby Brown. Bobbi Kristina grew up in the public eye and appeared on the reality show Being Bobby Brown. She also had a tumultuous relationship with ex-boyfriend Nick Gordon. The reality TV personality was found face down in a bathtub at the home she shared with Gordon in Alpharetta, Georgia on January 31, 2015. She had drugs in her system and spent six months in a coma before she died at age 22 in July 2015.
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Jimmie Fails, who will play Eddie Murphy has also joined the cast. Details on Fails’ role haven’t been given yet, but the biopic might touch on his friendship with Houston, which some allege was also a romance for several years. According to a book published in 2019 by the “I Have Nothing” artist’s friend Robyn Crawford, Murphy was at first elusive with Houston but then tried to call off the wedding of the Grammy-winning singer with Bobby Brown.
British actress Naomi Ackie was chosen last year to portray Houston in the Sony TriStar film. Kasi Lemmons (Harriet) is directing from a script written by Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten.
The movie will be executive produced by Houston’s sister-in-law and longtime manager Pat Houston on behalf of the Houston estate, along with music mogul Clive Davis. Other executive producers include McCarten via his Muse of Fire Productions, Larry Mestel for Primary Wave Music, which is a partner of the Whitney Houston estate, Denis O’Sullivan and Jeff Kalligheri via Compelling Pictures, Matt Jackson of Jackson Pictures, and Molly Smith and Trent and Thad Luckinbill for Black Label Media. Matt Salloway and Christina Papagjika are also producing for West Madison Entertainment.
The film is expected to be released in theaters December of next year instead of Thanksgiving as previously reported.
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