Yaya DaCosta cast as Whitney Houston in planned TV movie
Model-turned-actress Yaya Dacosta is preparing to bring Whitney Houston back to life on the small screen after landing the lead role in a planned TV biopic.
Angela Bassett is stepping behind the camera to make her directorial debut with the project for the Lifetime network, and she has cast The Butler star as the tragic R&B icon, according to TVLine.com.
The film, tentatively-titled I Will Always Love You: The Whitney
Houston Story, will focus on the singer's rise to fame, her
turbulent marriage to Bobby Brown and her drug issues. It is
expected to air next year (15).
DaCosta rose to prominence as a competitor on reality TV show
America's Next Top Model and has since established herself as an
actress with roles on soap opera All My Children, medical drama
House and comedy Ugly Betty. Last year (13), she also landed a
small part in Lee Daniels' The Butler.
Houston's manager and sister-in-law, Pat Houston, recently blasted
plans to turn the late superstar's life story into a TV project,
insisting she is "certainly worthy of more than a television
movie".
The Houston family is reportedly in the process of developing its
own Whitney film, similar to Michael Jackson's This Is It concert
documentary, which was released following his death in 2009.