Stanley Tucci on getting his look right for Whitney Houston biopic

Actor Stanley Tucci has opened up about getting his look right for his latest film. In Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, he plays record producer Clive Davis, who discovered the legendary singer when she was 19, and for Tucci it was vital to get his appearance right. Especially his hair. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody is released in cinemas on Boxing Day.

Video transcript

FREDA COOPER: The real Clive Davis is a producer on the film as well. So I wondered, Stanley, did you get to know him? Was he on set when you were filming any of your scene?

STANLEY TUCCI: No, he was not on set.

FREDA COOPER: That must have been a relief.

STANLEY TUCCI: Yeah, it was. Yes. He-- I got to know him a little bit. We talked via Zoom prior to shooting, and I had seen the documentary about him and read his book. And all that was invaluable. Then I could go back to the footage and remember having spoken to him about just figuring out how to recreate his voice, his movements, all that sort of stuff.

And then we met like for about a half an hour before-- a couple of days before I started filming. And then-- and that was it. Then I saw him at the premiere and that was it. Yeah.

FREDA COOPER: Did you have a hand in creating his look? Because his style is about a million miles away from yours.

STANLEY TUCCI: Yeah. Yeah, we really followed-- there was wonderful designers on the film-- wonderful designer on the film. And also, my friend Anne Morgan, who's a great hair-- hair person. Hair person, does that make sense?

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah.

FREDA COOPER: We know what you mean.

STANLEY TUCCI: You know what I mean. Yeah. She's amazing. She won an Academy Award for "Bombshell."

NAOMI ACKIE: Oh, wow.

STANLEY TUCCI: And she really is an-- she's extraordinary. So she created all those wigs and was there to put them on me. Because sometimes we would do-- like you said before, we do like some three different eras in one day.

NAOMI ACKIE: In one day.

FREDA COOPER: Oh, right. OK, so three different comb overs.

STANLEY TUCCI: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah, basically.

STANLEY TUCCI: So that-- but that-- all that stuff makes a huge difference, you know? And pad-- a little bit of padding as he got older and all that sort of stuff. All that stuff makes a big difference to me. Because I'm a physical person, and when you have that, you change yourself physically, instantly, you change everything inside.

NAOMI ACKIE: Yeah.