Naomi Ackie had to wear a set of false teeth to play Whitney Houston in a new biopic.
The 30-year-old actress portrays the late superstar in new movie-musical ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ – and Naomi spent weeks perfecting her American accent only for it all to go horribly wrong as soon as she put in her specially-made teeth.
During an appearance on ‘The Graham Norton Show’, she explained: “I had been working on the [American] accent for six months and thought I had it down, then suddenly putting in the fake teeth meant I had to learn it all over again.”
However, she still managed to fool most of her castmates who “freaked out” when they realised she’s British.
Naomi added: “People freaked out when they heard my British voice. On set I would be talking as Whitney and then afterwards I was like, ‘Bloody hell, that was a hard day innit!'”
The actress also explained that she totally immersed herself in the world of Whitney to play the tragic singer – who died aged 48 in 2012 – and she ended up having to stop listening to the star’s music for a while.
She added: “I had to take a break because I really was immersed in her world. “
However, after some timed had passed Naomi felt able to revisit the superstar’s hit. She went in: “Now I listen to her to remember some of the moments I had filming. It was such a formative time in my life and career that I look back on it fondly.”
‘The Graham Norton Show’ airs on BBC One on Friday December 16 at 10.40pm. It is also available on BBC iPlayer.
