now in theaters.
During press for the film every cast member had something different, but equally enchanting to say about the larger than life mega-star whose untimely passing shocked and saddened her fans around the world.
Thankfully she left a gift to be marveled in her performance as “Emma,” in the highly anticipated remake – a film which she’d been trying to get produced for years. Her co-stars on the set shared their feelings about working with her, for some it would be the last time they saw her – and how they’ll remember Whitney Houston.
Jordan Sparks on what Whitney Houston said to her after her solo performance in the film – the last time she saw her:
“The last time I saw were was on set, the last scene we film … there was one moment after I was done filming and she was watching she sat cause she wanted to see everything and so she was watching and she was like ‘come here’ and she walked up on the stage and she put my head in her hands and was holding me and looking at me like this and said ‘you are everything we wanted’ and I just remember losing it there cause to have your idol to just tell you that I just lost it … and she’s rubbing my back – like that was the type of woman she was. She was so nurturing and so just wanted to see everybody else to succeed … so for her to say that, that was one of the last things I remember saying to me.”
Mike Epps on talking to Whitney Houston behind the scenes on set:
“I can remember like you know, ah, on the side of the house talking to her, you know what I mean? Because Whitney was seemed like she was , she wanted people to be real with her you know not like “Hollywood” … I would talk to her about real stuff you know like life you know she’d tell me about her daughter … she told me straight out her mouth she was like, cause I was asking her questions … and she said straight up ‘man if anything ever happened to me I did it! I seen everything, had everything …’ but her spirit is carrying this film.”
Derrick Luke upon hearing Whitney Houston had passed:
“One moment that me and Whitney on set was that ah, we both was raised in the church so we were talking about gospel music and ah, I felt because we were talking about gospel music, it was pointing that I would see her again…”
Omari Hardwick upon hearing that Whitney Houston had passed:
“I was with my lady and ah, and friends and they were trying to hide the phone … and I guess they didn’t feel like they could hold it from me so they ended up telling me. It was very weird because there was this young girl …and she had been trying to get me to get a picture and literally trying to get me to get a picture with her is when I’m receiving the news … and I just slumped down and you just sat there. Tears weren’t able to come out…”
Tika Sumpter on how Whitney Houston acted behind the scenes:
“Whiney just joked a lot. She’s really funny. I wish everybody could see – I kept thinking ‘oh I wish the world could see this part.’ Like hilarious, loved to dance, loved to joke around with us…”
Carmon Ejogo on the last time she saw Whitney Houston:
“The last time I saw her was the last scene in the movie that she played … and it’s a really poinient moment where uhm, its just very emotional … and it’s like this sort of Marina ‘Ambromovic’ moment where it’s like just really intense and naked and honest and it was like that was the last the last moment that she was part of that project and uhm I think it was, to the very end she was just constantly available and raw. There’s a rawness about her that’s rare. People aren’t’ real often and when somebody has that much of a life and legacy and reached that much status it’s so easy then to disappear … and it [she] was always giving.”
See Whitney Houston’s final performance on the silver screen in “Sparkle.”
Do
