Recreating one of Whitney Houston’s most iconic performances for the biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” was an exercise in “contemporary archaeology.”

On January 27, 1991, Houston took the stage in Tampa Stadium to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl Xxv. That performance is one of the film’s key moments, with director Kasi Lemmons aiming to not only capture Houston’s concert on the field but also the world-wide reaction as 79 million people watched her on their televisions at home. Accuracy was key; however, the venue was demolished in 1999.

“We did lots of research,” recalled production designer Gerald Sullivan. He and his team sifted through hours of footage and stills from various sources, including the NFL and personal photos from the Houston family. “We even got hold of the original architectural plans,” he added. The blueprints enabled the VFX team to rebuild the stadium virtually and even generated aerial shots.