Arlen Escarpeta isn’t having any trouble being Bobby Brown….
Lifetime has released the first official photo for its upcoming Whitney Houston biopic featuring the 33-year-old Belizean actor as the R&B singer-songwriter and part-Brazilian actress Yaya DaCosta as the late Grammy-winning songstress.
In the picture, the two recreate a classic photo of Houston and Brown in their early days as a couple. Escarpeta, donning a black top and blue jeans, hugs Dacosta from behind. The actress sports a white tank top and flashes a big smile for the camera.
The biopic, titled I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story, is currently shooting in Los Angeles with Oscar nominee Angela Bassett serving as the director.
It’s scheduled to premiere early next year, three years after Houston accidentally drowned in the bathtub of a Los Angeles hotel room at the age of 48.
It will center on Houston’s life in the early-to-mid ’90s, when she skyrocketed to fame not only for her powerful singing voice but also for her appearance in 1992’s The Bodyguard, where she co-starred opposite Kevin Costner.
She contributed to the movie’s soundtrack, which later won a Grammy and is the biggest-selling soundtrack album in movie history.
It will also focus on the singer’s relationship with Brown, whom she met in 1989. The couple got married in 1992 and they welcomed their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown the following year.
