I Wanna Dance With Somebody: Naomi Ackie reveals how much singing she does

As the latest biopic of the legendary Whitney Houston prepares to hit cinemas on Boxing Day, the film’s star, Naomi Ackie, has revealed that audiences will hear her own singing voice in the film. I Wanna Dance With Somebody is released in cinemas on Boxing Day.

Video transcript

FREDA COOPER: It's well-publicized that we hear Whitney singing in the film.

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah.

FREDA COOPER: But I know you've got a pretty decent singing voice of your own. So do we ever hear you?

NAOMI ACKIE: I sing a little bit at the beginning. I sing the first song that you hear in the-- in the film when she's a little bit younger and needing to be refined. But yeah, most of it is Whitney. I mean, I just sing for the dramatic beats mainly. Where hopefully, we've figured out the right formula. So it makes sense that I'm singing and we know there's a kind of--

STANLEY TUCCI: You do it in the office a little bit too.

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah.

STANLEY TUCCI: And there is little bits of--

FREDA COOPER: When she's choosing a track.

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not too much. 97.9, somewhere there.

FREDA COOPER: You have your bit.

NAOMI ACKIE: Just a tiny, tiny.

FREDA COOPER: Which is--

NAOMI ACKIE: I kept on encouraging them to shrink it.

FREDA COOPER: How do you prepare for a role that actually is going to be associated with you probably for most, if not all, of your career?

NAOMI ACKIE: You just take your time. and you try and do the work as best as you can. And keep that kind of stuff for that time out of your head. I think it was a bit of a challenge to get out of my head, how big it was. And kind of whittle it down to-- actually this is the same as any job and approach it the same as any other job. And hopefully, that the work speaks for itself.