‘Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over’ to Premiere from CNN Films
CNN Films has announced they have acquired the critically-acclaimed, award-winning, fan and festival favorite, “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over.” The documentary will be among the first films to premiere on CNN+, CNN’s highly-anticipated streaming service debuting this spring.
Produced, directed, and written by Dave Wooley, and directed by David Heilbroner, “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” is a deeply personal, intimate portrait of the velvet-voiced songstress. The film yields insights into her rise to music superstardom from singing in her grandfather’s church, to her life beyond the lights standing up to discrimination in America and around the world.
Dionne Warwick became the very first solo African American female artist to win a Grammy® in contemporary vocal performance, for 1968’s “Do You Know The Way To San Jose.” The song became so ubiquitous, former President and musician Bill Clinton describes how it inspired a road trip for him. Dionne Warwick has earned six Grammy® Awards, with 14 nominations, to date.
Throughout the film, Dionne takes viewers on her own trip through time, sometimes narrating over archival footage, sometimes literally visiting and describing locations of key importance to her life and career. From East Orange, NJ, to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY, to the capitals of Europe, and back home again, the film includes rare interviews with those who know her best: her two sons, Damon and David Elliott; aunt, Cissy Houston; and long-time collaborators, Burt Bacharach and Clive Davis. And, in an emotional archival interview, Whitney Houston reflects upon her appreciation for her cousin’s talent and mentorship.
As music tastes and styles changed through the decades, Dionne’s style has also adapted and evolved.
For her first debut single, which shares its title with that of the documentary, she emerged from singing backup vocals to the spotlight as a soulful solo star. That single, “Don’t Make Me Over,” was inspired by Dionne Warwick’s reproach of producer Bacharach for reassigning a potential hit song to another artist.
The film premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received the Special Tribute Award and was first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award for documentaries.
In recent years, Dionne Warwick’s popularity has extended to a whole new generation of fans through her quippy commentary on Twitter, and her embrace of a series of affectionate impersonations on Saturday Night Live that even led to a surprise appearance on the late night comedy show.
