SISTER: “Okay, I just go on out there and look pretty.”

SPARKLE: “But this isn’t what we rehearsed.”

SISTER: “You want to win this money, don’t you?”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: With Sparkle’s songs, the sister act becomes a hit. But they have to act against their mother’s wishes in the process. She saw her own career dreams destroyed long ago.

(SOUND: “Sparkle”)

SPARKLE: “Why would the Lord give me this gift if I wasn’t supposed to use it?”

MOTHER: “Sparkle, you can have a gift. It is how you use it.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Whitney Houston plays Sparkle’s firm but loving mother. She also served as the movie’s lead producer. She died of an accidental overuse of drugs in February shortly after filming was completed.

Jordin Sparks, who plays, Sparkle, says Houston saw similarities to her own life in the movie’s story.

JORDIN SPARKS: “We never had the conversation about any of that stuff that she had gone through, but it was almost like she had this [attitude]: ‘yeah, I went through that and I’m here now and that’s okay and I’m going to keep going.’ And I thought that that was great to just not to be ashamed of anything that happens.”

(WHITNEY HOUSTON and JORDIN SPARKS – “Celebrate”)