Angela Bassett thinks her work on the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic is going smoothly.
On the red carpet of the 2014 Emmys during NBC’s pre-show, Bassett was asked about the controversy surrounding the Lifetime movie, due out in 2015.
“It felt like it was flowing from the beginning. Except me with the learning curve, you know. Coming from one side of the camera to the other,” she explained.
“Controversy can be good. It can pique your interest,” she added.
Bassett is directing the made-for-TV film, which stars America’s Next Top Model star Yaya DaCosta.
Singer Deborah Cox, who has re-recorded Houston’s hits for the movie, said her motivation was “about creating the essence of” Houston. The key, she told Billboard, “was to sing in a tone as close to Whitney’s as possible, purely from the heart. None of Deborah Cox seeped into the performances.”
A version of this article first appeared on Billboard.com.
