00:00Some days I was playing like 22 and then 42 in the same day and it got quite confusing sometimes.
00:13I remember for Bohemian Rhapsody, I read that Rami Malek, the fake teeth used,
00:19was really a marker for him to get into Freddy mode. I was wondering for you if there was any
00:25marker or ritual you used to get into Whitney. Yeah, fake teeth for one because you know
00:31I've got my gap here so that was something that we needed to figure out but also it was
00:38for me it was the wigs really and not just because it was you know indicative of Whitney
00:45in certain parts of her life but it also helped me to know at least body-wise and fashion-wise
00:51where we are in time because a lot of uh hairstyle changes, hairstyle changes changed a lot in in
00:57from the from the kind of late 70s to the early 2000s so you know it helped me kind of
01:05plot out
01:05where we were to um so once I had the wig and the teeth on and in um that that
01:12was my switch.
01:15I couldn't believe it I mean first of all I couldn't believe that she was British
01:18because her dialect accent is perfect and then when she recreates those songs um I I don't know
01:27how she did it. I've been acting for a long time but I I I can't imagine doing that. I
01:32don't know how
01:32she did that. I understand you use various original recordings um of Whitney Houston through this
01:39process. I was curious what challenges were involved in obtaining and kind of weaving them
01:44through the film in a realistic way. Yeah the estate was very helpful with the music um you know because
01:51they control some of it most of it and uh so so you know that was that was a good
01:56partnership um we were
01:58able to get some of the masters uh which is amazing uh it really helps to to um nail that
02:04kind of live
02:05quality of the performance so you really believe that she's you know singing and of course you're hearing
02:10Whitney. Naomi's also singing and she's singing full out um but what we're hearing is Whitney but
02:16it's the getting that live version that was essential getting a live version of all of the songs.
02:22I was able to be served by her book her autobiography like that was my saving grace it was everything
02:29I
02:29needed to know and that was the extent of my research and I felt like I was getting it from
02:36Robin
02:37in the way that she wrote her book um obviously to just you know researching the time of the 90s
02:44and
02:44understanding what the wardrobe is like what the hair is like what songs we were listening to like I
02:49created a playlist for Robin that I would listen to and my trailer every morning I would play some
02:54songs for me and Naomi on set just to kind of get us in that zone and travel back to
02:59that time that
03:00Robin and Whitney actually was living in so that was a huge part of my research too.
03:04I understand you got to meet with Clive Davis while shooting this I was wondering if there was
03:10something that stuck out to you um about his own memory of Whitney Houston that you got to maybe
03:16bring into your scenes with Naomi. I mean it really was you know I talked to him we had a
03:21zoom call uh
03:23before I started filming and you know he talked very honestly about how you know you know that it was
03:30very hard obviously what happened to her but but that relationship you know he really he loved her and
03:36and you know like like a like a niece to me he really was sort of like it became like
03:41an uncle in a in a way
03:42to her apart from you know being an amazing um business uh uh guide in in in her business uh
03:52um
03:52there wasn't one thing in particular it really was a series of things which we see in the documentary
03:58which we read about in his book and what she told me which is just that you know he knew
04:04how talented
04:04she was and and he just wanted to keep her truthful to herself and keep and make sure she was
04:13happy
04:13within herself. I have to ask about the medley scene because that scene absolutely floored me
04:18can you speak to um the preparation for that um something about uh creating that scene that us
04:25as audiences may not realize. It took two days to film it was actually when I read it in the
04:31script it
04:31was the first thing I looked at on YouTube uh and so really I'd been practicing that sequence for about
04:39eight months um and it was partially just me watching it over and over again um but it was
04:47also then working with my movement coach Polly Bennett who kind of we broke it down into little pieces
04:53um but I I you know it was it's that thing you just have to every in every moment I'm
05:00playing the song
05:01and like I'm doing the movements in my head I can still do it now. That's the weird thing it
05:05says it
05:05never leaves you so like I can hear it and I can like I can yeah I know I know
05:11what it is it's just
05:11like I practice it so much so. It took a second um but that day those two days were some
05:18of the most
05:18like um beautiful experiences I've had on on this job and it and in general it felt like a kind
05:25of
05:25joyful full stop to um some of the work that I was doing on this job. The medley I love
05:31the medley and
05:32I'm most proud of that sequence honestly it's it's one of my favorite things that we shot
05:37and then the the national anthem also just capturing it and and the edit and the energy of it
05:44and um really capturing the excitement of everybody that was watching at home and the excitement of the
05:50crowd that was there and her the the exuberance of her performance and the kind of rallying nature of
05:57it um that those two are my favorites. And there's such a layered kind of queer relationship that this
06:03that is explored between Whitney and Robin in this and I was just curious what was like most important
06:08to you about portraying their relationship. Most important part of it was to show the love and the
06:13adoration which I believe was the foundation that they you know shared for one another and the loyalty
06:19that Robin had towards her and just to show that you know soulmates come in all different forms
06:25although they were able to explore them all but whether they were in a relationship or not they
06:30were truly soulmates uh take the romance out of it it just was real pure love that they had for
06:35each
06:35other and I just really wanted that to come across I also was just really careful in the way that
06:41I
06:41represented Robin I wanted to approach that with a lot of you know care and you know just being
06:48sensitive that I'm playing a real person too. Obviously you're doing what's in the script right
06:53so what's in the script is really all you can all you can do um there there were times when
07:00I wish
07:00there had been more uh because he was so interesting and and that relationship is really interesting
07:07but ultimately it's it it's her story it's the Whitney Houston story it's not the Clive Davis story
07:13um so that's really all that matters it's it's my job to serve the to serve the script. I mean
07:19there
07:19there are a lot of things I wish I had more time to focus on and you know earlier cuts
07:23were were much
07:24longer you know and we would stay kind of um in scenes and in relationships longer. I really love
07:32her relationship with her mother that was a really moving relationship to me and um there's scenes with
07:37her mother that um that I wish we could you know I wish we could have included or that we
07:42could have
07:43stayed in longer. I wish we could have more Robin uh even though there's quite a bit of her in
07:48the
07:48movie I never got tired of her they were amazing together uh they just lit each other up and you
07:55know it's a wonderful capturing chemistry between actors is is one of the things directors live for
08:00right that's like it's like the gold it's and um I just I really enjoyed that and there were there
08:07a lot of things you know a lot of even musical performances and and iconic things that that she
08:13did that we that weren't included um I would go even deeper with with her relationship with Clive
08:20and her father I just I think I would have gone deeper into each of the relationships. What was it
08:26like
08:27that love millions of people? The best villain I ever know.
