‘Waiting To Exhale’ Film Sequel Carrying On Despite Whitney Houston’s Death

Despite Whitney Houston’s tragic death on Saturday, the film division of Twentieth Century Fox is moving forward with a sequel to the 1995 film adaptation of Terry McMillan’s novel Waiting To Exhale. Originally directed by Forest Whitaker, the movie starred Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon, and its soundtrack spawned such hits as Houston’s chart-topping “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” and Brandy’s “Sittin’ Up In My Room”.

“I don’t think she would want it to,” Elizabeth Gabler, president of Fox 2000 Pictures, said in an interview with Vulture. “It’s almost in her honor that we think to soldier on.”

The studio picked up the rights to McMillan’s Exhale sequel Getting To Happy in 2010, and Whitaker is once again attached to direct. “We literally have not talked about anybody for that part,” said Gabler. “Forest, I know, is just … grieving. He’d been the one who was speaking with her, updating [Houston] on its progress.”

In the original film, Houston played Savannah Jackson, a hopelessly-in-love television producer who is smitten with a married man played by Dennis Haysbert.

Here’s Whitney’s video for the Babyface-produced “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”:

Who do you think has the chops to fill the role originated by Whitney in the Waiting To Exhale sequel? The awesome Viola Davis gets our vote.