For Whitney Houston, most of the 2000s were a bit of a disaster of drug addiction, bad press and ignominy, but in the last couple years she’s managed to pull herself back, release a new album and not look like a total train wreck.
Now she wants to get back into acting, returning to the movies for the first time since the TV movie version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 1997. According to THR she’s in talks for a lead role in Sony’s remake of the 1976 music-dirama, Sparkle.
Loosely based on The Supremes, Sparkle follows three sisters who form a successful singing group and must then deal with the fallout of fame and drugs. American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will make her acting debut as the title character, the talented member of the group, while Houston will ber her not-so encouraging mother. Mike Epps will be Satin, a stand-up comedian who marries one of the sisters and gets her hooked on drugs.
This isn’t Houston’s first flirtation with a remake of Sparkle, as she was also set to star years ago when its was set up at Warner Bros. That version would have starred Aaliyah, but was derailed after her tragic death.