Whitney Houston (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The life of the late, great music icon, Whitney Houston, was peppered with platinum record sales, international pop appeal, a tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown, and her drug abuse- it was basically any filmmaker’s dream gig to capture on the big, or small screen.
That dream has now come true for documentary filmmaker, Nick Broomfield, who is best known for his work on the highly acclaimed documentaries, “Biggie & Tupac” and “Kurt & Courtney.”
“Whitney: Can I Be Me?” filmmaker, Nick Broomfield (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Why He Doesn’t Respect The Family/Estate…
Broomfield created the upcoming Whitney: Can I Be Me? documentary. But there’s one bump in the road he had to overcome throughout his entire research process- Whitney’s estate and family. Apparently, they tried to block him from gathering info about Whitney- a move he made it clear he was not feeling in his previous interviews:
Via IndieWire: Broomfield confirmed that the Houston estate has contacted interview subjects and asked that they not participate in the Showtime project. (A rep for the estate declined comment.) “It probably says more about them than about my production,” Broomfield said. “Not only is it a defensive move, it’s something that I don’t respect. The kind of behavior you don’t normally get in the documentary community. I don’t know if it’s had much of an effect on me, other than a few sleepless nights. It hasn’t changed the film I wanted to make.”
Whitney’s brother, Gary Houston (R) and his wife Pat, in NY, 2/7/13 at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)
The Show Must Go On Without Family’s Help
Whitney’s estate is ran by the overseer, attorney Bedelia Hargrove, and co-guardians, Bobby Brown and Pat Houston (Whitney’s sister-in-law). It isn’t clear who’s giving Broomfield a hard time for the film, but in his Variety interview, it’s clear that the opposition is coming from the family:
(Photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP/GettyImages)
Via Variety: Despite the family’s objections, Broomfield is confident he will be able to clear the rights to use nine or 10 of Houston’s songs. He has also been able to interview roughly 30 friends and former colleagues.
Via IndieWire: “Meeting all these people has probably shown me a very kind of vulnerable, sensitive side of her that people have loved,” Broomfield said.
(Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage)
Broomfield says the estate’s approval would have harmed the integrity of the documentary:
Via Variety:“I feel strongly that I cannot do a particularly insightful film into what happened with Whitney Houston and her life with the estate’s approval,” said Broomfield. “The reasons will become apparent when the film comes out.”
Broomfield also says he had access to plenty of footage of Whitney Houston despite the family/estate’s rejection.
American singer Whitney Houston, June 1988 (Photo by RDA/Getty Images)
Whitney: Can I Be Me? will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017 and will then air on Showtime. It sounds interesting because what we, the fans, want is an honesty, uncensored view of who one of our favorite legends really was. If this doc’ can execute that, then it should do well. Only time will tell.
