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Whitney Houston has become the latest musical icon to be the subject of a big-screen biopic \u2013 with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker actor Naomi Ackie playing the legendary singer in the new film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of course, Whitney possessed one of the most recognisable and powerful voices in the history of pop music, so you might be wondering if Ackie herself is actually singing in the new film \u2013 in a manner similar to how Austin Butler lent his voice to several classics in Elvis \u2013 or if Houston\u2019s original vocals were used instead, more like the approach taken in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.<\/p>\n Read on for everything you need to know.<\/p> The answer is no, at least not for the most part. Although there are a few scenes in which we do hear Ackie singing small portions of songs, for nearly all of the big numbers it\u2019s the original recordings of Houston we hear, remixed for the sound of cinemas.<\/p>\n Even if we don\u2019t actually hear her voice though, Ackie revealed in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com<\/a> that she was very much singing while shooting the scenes \u2013 in order for the performances not to looked faked.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the biggest challenge really,\u201d she explained. \u201cOutside of the little bits of singing that I do in this film, it\u2019s really about looking like the sound is coming out of my mouth.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it was having to have an understanding of how she sang, and really singing at the top of my lungs, so that my mouth placement was in the right place, and the vibrato was doing the right thing. And the riffs looked real. So that was the biggest challenge in terms of the singing outside of having to sing in public.\u201d<\/p>\nIs Naomi Ackie singing in I Wanna Dance With Somebody?<\/strong><\/h2>\n