Angela Bassett thrilled with Dionne Warwick's response to Whitney film

Angela Bassett has finally scored a little family support for her new TV movie about Whitney Houston after screening the film for the late singer's cousin Dionne Warwick.

Members of Whitney's family, including her mother Cissy and daughter Bobbi Kristina, have blasted the project and attacked the star's Waiting to Exhale castmate Bassett for making it her directorial debut.

Members of the family snubbed the TV movie's recent premiere, but now the director has revealed that Warwick has seen it - and she liked the film.

Bassett admits she was terrified while she was sitting in the dark watching the biopic with the Walk on By hitmaker, but the screening ended on a positive note.

She explains, "It turned out wonderfully. She was pleased with the story and with how we told it and that made me pleased... She clapped and said, 'Thank you', and, 'This will be a good thing'."

Whitney, featuring Yaya DaCosta as the singer, debuts on Saturday (17Jan15).