LifeTime And Angela Bassett’s Whitney Houston Bio Pic May Cause Lawsuit From Estate

Lifetime TV has announced their plans for a Whitney Houston “TV Movie” bio pic. TMZ reports that the network plans for things related to the project to start happening in 2015. It is currently set to seat actress Angela Bassett in the director’s chair to make her directorial debut.  However, production may get shut down before it starts up. Sources told TMZ that Whitney Houston’s estate is considering a lawsuit to block the production.

The family has already apparently expressed their “displeasure” to Lifetime about the project, and has said that they wouldn’t participate in the feature. Understandably, the family said that the estate has its own plan to celebrate Whitney’s legacy. Few other details are available on the matter, but Pat Houston did say, “Whitney is certainly worthy of more than a television movie. If Whitney were here today, this would not be happening.”

If the picture does move forward the one positive in our eyes at this point is Angela Bassett. As you may recall she stood out several times in her career starring in bio pics like 1992’s The Jacksons: An American Dream, as Katherine Jackson, 1992’s Malcolm X as Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz, 1993 What’s Love Got To Do With It, as Tina Turner, 2002’s The Rosa Parks Story, as Rosa Parks, and 2009’s Notorious as Notorious B.I.G’s mother Voletta Wallace. We can’t help but think that all of that experience portraying real people would lend itself to making this Whitney Houston’s project good if it goes through.

Bassett also has the edge of having known and worked with Whitney personally when she played the role of “Bernadine Harris” in their 1995 romantic drama smash hit, Waiting To Exhale. Could the estate be shooting down a good thing? We’ll keep you posted on any new details