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'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Star Angela Bassett Says Lifetime's Whitney Houston Biopic Was An Overwhelming Undertaking, Reveals Why She Didn't Have The Chance To Speak With Bobby Brown
ByChristian Saclao
Oct 17, 2014 10:43 PM EDT
The upcoming Lifetime biopic about the headline-making relationship between the late Whitney Houston and her ex-husband Bobby Brown is already done, director Angela Bassett recently revealed.
"We're just putting the titles on the movie," Bassett told Cosmopolitan Wednesday, Oct. 15. "And we'll actually be turning it in this coming Friday. So it's no longer my baby. Turning it in and waiting for you to see it."
When asked by the magazine if the project was a "big, overwhelming undertaking" for her, Bassett responded: "It was overwhelming, the stuff that you don't know. And the stuff that you do know, you just lean more into that, work with the actors. I'm trying to make sense and pay homage and respect to these lives. So it was a wonderful experience. As well as a learning experience."
Bassett, who currently plays the three-breasted woman Desiree Dupree on "American Horror Story: Freak Show," revealed that she chose not to speak with Brown about the project to avoid complicating issues between him and Houston's family.
"I didn't have an opportunity to speak with him," the Oscar-nominated actress said. "You have to balance whatever the dynamic [is] between the two camps, the Houstons and the Browns. ... It's complicated and [we were] not wanting to complicate it anymore."
"I guess from their point of view, you don't know how it's going to turn out, I can imagine. And, of course, that's their daughter, that's their mother, that's their wife and greatest love," Bassett explained.
"But I do - I, personally - hope to present it to [them], allow them to see it before the world has an opportunity to see it," she revealed. "That's my desire. Because this is not theater - this was a life. So, because it is going to be done, it is going to be seen, it's done now. ... To me, that just shows respect.
When asked by Cosmopolitan if she will reach out and ask both parties to see the biopic first before it airs on Lifetime, Bassett said, "Absolutely. And if they would, great. And if not, great as well."
Last July, the "I Will Always Love You" hitmaker's mom, Cissy, released a statement to Entertainment Tonight, objecting the upcoming biopic.
"Lifetime has chosen to go ahead with the movie about Whitney in spite of my family's objections. No one connected with this movie knew Whitney or anything about her relationship with Bobby," Cissy said. "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...Please please let her rest."
In the same month, Houston and Brown's only child, Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, took to Twitter and to express her disappointment that Bassett did not consider her for the lead role, which went to Yaya DaCosta, Huffington Post noted.
"When I win my first Grammy or Oscar *Shrugs* hmm whichever comes1st, I'll be sure 2shout URname out b***h!" Bobbi tweeted.
