Sparkle Remake: Whitney Houston's Final Movie Coming Soon

Musical movie star … Whitney Houston’s final film Sparkle will be released in the summer. A musical film tipped as a vehicle for the late singer Whitney Houston to make an acting comeback will be released in cinemas this summer, Variety reports. Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, a personal favourite of Houston’s. She plays the mother of three sisters in a musical group who are dealing with the fallout from fame and drugs in a story which was inspired by the Supremes.

The singer had acted as executive producer and also recorded several songs for the soundtrack. She had completed all her scenes by the time of her death on Saturday in a Beverly Hills hotel room hours before she was due to attend a pre-Grammy awards party.

The Sparkle remake will also star Jordin Sparks, Cee Lo Green, Mike Epps and Derek Luke. Producer Curtis Wallace told the Detroit News that Houston behaved professionally throughout the shoot in the city. “She started to take on a mother-type role, especially with Jordin (Sparks),” he said. “She was spending time with her and giving her advice.”

“I was surprised at how funny she was,” he added. “I remember how much fun she was to be around on set. One night, like many, we were working late, it was 2 or 3am and she was making up songs getting everyone laughing.”

The original Sparkle was inspirational in the creation of the musical that would eventually debut on Broadway in 1981 as Dreamgirls, later adapted into a 2006 film of the same name which won Jennifer Hudson an Oscar for her turn as Effie White. Houston’s godmother, Aretha Franklin, recorded many of the songs for the Sparkle soundtrack.