Houston a natural for role

Date: December 19, 1996
By Gary Thompson of Knight-Ridder Newspapers

From Tampa Tribune (Florida)
Submitted by: Larry A.


The reaction that Whitney Houston inspires in her fellow cast members in "The Preacher's Wife" can best be described in one word: fear.

You sense it in the way they answer the innocuous question, "What was it like working with Whitney?"

"If you're trying to get me to tell stories about Whitney, forget it!" advised Jenifer Lewis, quickly adding, "Not that there's anything to tell."

Not when Denzel Washington, Courtney Vance, Loretta Devine and Penny Marshall all say, with prompting, that Denzel wasn't the only angel on the set.

Whitney also was divine.

Houston's achievements as a singer are writ in platinum. When she made the jump to movies with "The Bodyguard," and "Waiting to Exhale," critics were quick to poke fun at her acting.

Houston doesn't care. She knows you don't have to act to be a star, especially when you have an athletic voice that is to pop music what Michael Jordan is to basketball.

Houston, alone among black female actors, has emerged as a bankable box-office draw. "The Bodyguard" made an unbelievable $ 400 million worldwide, the low-budget "Waiting to Exhale" an impressive $ 70 million in the United States.

Neither movie was an artistic achievement, which only affirms Houston's uncanny drawing power. Houston says the secret to her success is in not trying to be something she's not.

"I think it's because I'm not looking to be this incredible actress," she said. "In fact when I first started I didn't even want to be a movie star. I thought I would take a little role here, a little role there. ... I had no idea this other career would take off." Houston says she chooses her movie projects carefully, but it's clear that some projects, like "The Preacher's Wife," choose her.

Denzel Washington's production company, which developed the picture, pestered Houston for more than a year with offers to star in the film.

"He cornered me in a restaurant one night ... and Denzel proceeded to tell me how badly I needed to do this film," she said. "He told me I was the only one that can sing the gospel, and that I knew what that church thing is all about."

Houston, a native of Newark, N.J., grew up singing in a choir directed by her mother, soul-gospel grande dame Cissy Houston, who makes a cameo in "The Preacher's Wife" as a sassy choir singer.

"I said, "Denzel, you never heard me sing the gospel.' He said, "Yeah, but I heard your mother, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'"

Washington won out, of course, and Houston found herself involved in a long, difficult winter production.

For Houston, singing was the best part of "The Preacher's Wife," but also the hardest, because movie sets involve a few minutes of filming followed by hours of down time.

"That was weird. It was the hardest thing. Because once my voice gets going, it wants to go. It's just ready to roll, because I'm used to doing hours of concerts."

Houston said the movie wouldn't make sense without the music.

"This is a film about faith and love and charity and all that," she said. "It had to have the gospel so you could feel what was happening in church, so you could really feel what the whole movie is about."