Spot on! Lifetime revealed the first images of Yaya DeCosta as Whitney Houston, as well as a shot of DeCosta with Arlen Escarpeta, who portrays Bobby Brown in the upcoming biopic I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story, and they definitely look the part!
In one of the pics, DeCosta wears a white tank, resembling the late singer’s 1997 Whitney album cover perfectly, complete with the curly hair and dark eyeshadow. In a second photo, the America’s Next Top Model alum stands in the arms of Escarpeta, who portrays Houston’s ex husband.
Houston passed away unexpectedly in February 2012 at the age of 48 from an “accidental drowning.” She was found dead in her hotel bathtub just hours before she was scheduled to attend Clive Davis‘ annual pre-Grammy party.
Her life—and, more specifically, her relationship with Brown—is the subject of Lifetime’s new biopic, set to be directed by the songstress’ Waiting to Exhale costar Angela Bassett. In a statement released to Us Weekly in June, the 55-year-old actress said, “I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story.”
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Bassett revealed that although she ran the project by the late singer’s family and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, they won’t be involved in its production.
“We reached out to them in the early days; of course we’re not going to do the movie and not say anything to them … You can if you’re using public domain, but that’s not our desire,” Bassett said. “We paid our respects and let the conversation be had, just to get their okay. They certainly could have been not involved and against it.”
I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story is set to premiere sometime in 2015.