Friday’s release of the R&B musical remake Sparkle marks a bittersweet triumph for the late Whitney Houston, whose death in February preempted what many, including producing partner and friend Debra Martin Chase, insist would have been Houston’s comeback. Co-stars Jordin Sparks, Mike Epps, Tika Sumpter, and Carmen Ejogo remembered the iconic Grammy-winning singer, actress, and executive producer as a “vibrant” and “open” force on set who was gearing up to bounce back from her recent personal troubles.
Jordin Sparks, who stars as the talented but self-conscious youngest daughter of Houston’s strict churchgoing Emma, first met her idol at Clive Davis’s annual Grammy party but was too shy to speak with her at length until they arrived on the Detroit set of Sparkle.
“She was so down to earth, she just wanted to sit with us and talk with us and get to know us,” remembered Sparks. “She could’ve just been like, ‘I’m gonna do my scenes and go back to my trailer,’ and that wasn’t how she was. She’d be sitting, watching. Of course she was executive producing as well but she didn’t really have to be there. [She'd ask] us if we needed anything and if we were okay. And it was amazing to be able to go through that because, you know the supernova, diva, THE voice… and she’s just going, ‘So, what’s your favorite thing?’”
In May, three months after Houston’s death, Sparks was asked to sing Houston’s iconic “I Will Always Love You” at the Billboard Awards. “She was always very encouraging, which I really took away from when I had to sing her song,” said Sparks. “It was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. But I just heard her in…
Full Story »How much has Whitney Houston’s tragic death propelled the musical remake of Sparkle into the spotlight? Consider: I’m 99% sure Matt Lauer has never seen “the 1976 movie called Sparkle,” but even the Today Show did a segment on the first trailer for the August release, which prompted robo-Kathie Lee Gifford to exclaim “I was flooded with emotions as I watched it.” See if you feel the same after watching Houston’s churchgoing mother attempt to help her daughters navigate the pitfalls of fame, Dreamgirls-style.
Like 1976’s Sparkle, which starred Irene Cara in the title role of Sparkle Williams, Lonette McKee as her sexpot sister, Sister, and Mary Alice as their quietly-suffering mother, the Salim Akil-directed remake follows the ups and downs of a Motown-era girl group as they deal with success, men, drugs, infighting, and assorted other drama. (If it sounds an awful lot like Dreamgirls, there’s a reason: The film’s success paved the way for and influenced the subsequent Broadway show, which follows a very similar story.) Following with its predecessor, we’ll get new renditions of the songs Sparkle made famous, including the catchy “Hooked On Your Love” and “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel,” a song later remade memorably by En Vogue.
This summer’s remake stars American Idol’s Jordin Sparks as Sparkle, British actress-singer Carmen Ejogo as Sister, and Tika Sumpter as the third (and let’s be real, more forgettable) sis Dolores, with assorted other familiar names filling in the cast: Cee-Lo Green as R&B star Black, Derek Luke as Sparkle’s decent songwriter boyfriend Stix, Mike Epps as seedy gangster/woman abuser Satin. Houston plays the girls’ mother in a role that seems considerably bumped up from the original, but while watching her aglow onscreen is mighty saddening,…
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The Associated Press is reporting that Whitney Houston has joined Amy Winehouse in Heaven’s ultimate girl group in the sky. Whitney’s rep confirms that she passed away this afternoon, but didn’t give anymore details. I will write more as soon as I can write more words than: SHOW ME THE RECEIPTS, JESUS!
Okay, I’m back and I still can’t believe it. When this first came up on my inbox, I thought it was a hoax and then when I read that her rep confirmed it, I had goosebumps on my nails. Whitney was out with Ray-J the other night and her situation didn’t look good, but I didn’t think things were that bad. Whitney just shot the remake of Sparkle and I thought she was going to have a huge comeback. I thought she was going to outlive Bobb-aaaay B and everybody else. I was beyond wrong.
TMZ says that Whitney died at the Beverly Hills Hotel this afternoon. It was initially reported that Ray-J is the one who found Whitney in her hotel room, but that’s not true. The paramedics were already at the hotel on an unrelated call, so they got to Whitney within minutes after somebody called 911. They tried to bring her back by giving her CPR, but it didn’t work and she was pronounced dead at 3:55pm. Both Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick
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I’d say you had a good night if you came stumbling out of a club with scratches on your arm, blood running down your leg, a gut full of coke bloat, sweaty strands of hair in your face and your scattered emotions switching from “I LOVE ALL Y’ALL!” to “FUCK ALL Y’ALL!” in the blink of a side-eye. But when I see Whitney Houston stumbling out Kelly Price’s Grammy party looking like this, I don’t need to see any receipts before I shake my head while cursing Ray-J’s crooked dick for this. It seems as soon as Whit hopped on Ray-J’s crooked dick for a second time, she got struck with the crackhead fever again. My feelings about all of this are best expressed through the sea of endless side-eyes around Whitney.
I don’t know how I feel about it, but 2012 is turning out to be the year of leaky singers. No, I should think positive. Maybe that’s not blood on Whitney’s leg. Maybe that doody bubble finally popped. That’s a trail of relief running down her leg.
On Friday, I posted a few pictures of Whitney Houston looking like she just woke up on the scratchy carpet of a rehab center after spending most of the night licking on her bedspread’s dried alcohol stain that was a battle wound from a struggle between a patient and a technician trying to yank the contraband bottle of whiskey out of their hands. There’s a good reason for that! Whitney is currently enrolled in an outpatient treatment program. Unfortunately, footage of Cousin Dionne Warwick dragging Whitney by the ankle into rehab doesn’t exist, because she voluntarily checked herself in.
Whitney’s rep didn’t give up that many details in the statement they released to People: “Whitney Houston is currently in an out-patient rehab program for drug and alcohol treatment. Whitney voluntarily entered the program to support her long-standing recovery process.”
Hmm. The last time I checked with Candy Finnigan, a “long-standing recover process” didn’t involve swallowing your hotel minibar and starting a collection of liquor store receipts. But good for Whitney. Hopefully, when she she’s finished with rehab, her thirst for crack (or whatever) will be curbed, but her hunger for bitchery and fuckery won’t!
Reese Witherspoon made the WRONG decision. That dumb dumb married that Jim Toth dude when she could’ve stayed with a man who loves nothing more than to play Wii tennis while bouncing his knees and flicking his wrists to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE CHOICES, Reese, while reading what you could’ve witnessed every single night. Make her weep, Jake:
“I don’t do karaoke or play Rock Band or Guitar Hero but I do play a little Wii Tennis while listening to Whitney Houston. I can’t play Wii Tennis without listening to Whitney Houston actually. I might mention that to Duncan (Source Code director Duncan Jones) as an idea for a movie because that’s right up our alley! I really just do it for myself. It’s just an incredible thing to exercise but for it to become like a meditative thing rather than just working out is amazing and that’s how it is for me.”
Jakey and I have something in common. I too like to pretend I’m handling white balls in the middle of my living room while listening to “Heartbreak Hotel” (the Crack is Whack remix) at full blast. And yeah, I totally call it meditative exercise too.
