Angela Bassett says that she is happy to have been able to direct a biopic about legendary singer Whitney Houston, but fans and critics haven’t been too kind to her.
Whitney Houston’s mother has been the most critical of the biopic and of Bassett and earlier this year she accused the first-time director of delivering misinformation and providing inaccurate facts in the film.
“In the two years since Whitney’s death, many people have stepped forward to speak about their close relationship with her. 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. Please please let her rest,” Whitney’s mother Cissy told Entertainment Tonight.
Bassett met and worked with Whitney on the set of Waiting To Exhale and claims that she did know her and can also relate to her story.
“I did spend a little time [with] her, but to know her intimately, intimately — I mean, who does but the person and the Lord they serve? Who knows a person,” she said according to ABC News.
She added, “But I know a little about being in the spotlight, a little about celebrity and its demands, a little about trying to find a mate and the support that’s needed in your industry; mine being acting, hers [the] music industry. I know about being a woman, about being a black woman that came up in a little hometown … and yet you are able to become a success because of this God-given gift of talent. So I know a little bit about what it might have been like.”
Whitney Houston's family doesn't support Angela Bassett's upcoming biopic. http://t.co/AZN0HM17eN pic.twitter.com/vxnpAgqJ42
— HOLLYWOOD.COM (@Hollywood_com) July 24, 2014
In spite of all the negative criticism, Bassett has held her head high.
She told The Huffington Post that she is proud of the biopic and hopes that Whitney would be proud of it too.
“I consider it a gift that was given to me, the opportunity to tell this story and try to tell it with love and compassion and dignity. I, like, everyone adored her,” she said.
Do you think Whitney’s family is being too harsh?
