Whitney Houston was already a big name, but her role in The Bodyguard made her even more famous. If Kevin Costner had given up, Whitney Houston would not have been in the movie. Kevin Costner chose Houston, and the filming was pushed back to fit Houston’s busy tour schedule. He made the right choice, and the movie was the most successful of the year. In an interview, Kevin Costner talked about the effect that Houston had.
Kevin Costner says the world has never been the same since Whitney Houston.
In the 1992 romantic thriller, Kevin Costner played Houston’s bodyguard, who became interested in him. Before the SAG Awards, he talked about how much he loved working with Houston. This comes after 10 years had passed since Houston’s death.
When movies are working at their very best, they’re about moments and images that you’ll never ever forget,
Costner said of the movie on the red carpet of the SAG Awards as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
He then talked about Houston’s No. 1 song, “I Will Always Love You,” which was number one for 14 weeks, won dozens of awards, and made Houston even more famous. The song was on the movie’s soundtrack. It was a remake of a country classic by Dolly Parton.
I don’t think we’ll ever forget when that little song came out, that she just blew up,
Costner said.
She sang the first part of it a cappella and musically the world was never the same. We have a moment of her in that movie we’ll never ever forget that and I think that when movies are working at their best, that’s what can happen.
In 2012, when Houston passed away, Costner spoke at her funeral. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2019, he talked about how well he got along with Houston and said that the magic of the movie was courtesy of the screenwriter.
[It was a] very funny, acidic kind of relationship that was unique,
Costner said.
His own rhythm of language that I knew would create [sparks]. It just caught [Whitney] at a really high moment or actually created a high moment for her. The words provide the chemistry in a way.
The actor contributed majorly to Whitney Houston’s signature ballad.
David Foster was chosen to make the soundtrack for the movie. He had a hard time finding the right theme song for the movie. In the documentary David Foster: Off the Record, he talked about how he made some of the most popular songs of his career. He’s proud of how the movie’s music turned out.
The big thing what – was kind of song could really capture the essence of the leads, the emotion, and make it more than just a thriller,
Clive Davis, head of Houston’s record label, said.
At first, Foster wanted Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” a mid-tempo song. He liked the song’s hook, but he wanted something better. He eventually heard Parton’s version of “I Will Always Love You” and knew right away how to make it work for Houston.
Kevin Costner insisted that the song should start with an acapella section, but Foster didn’t like the idea. He agreed to record the song Costner’s way so Houston could sing it in the movie, but he planned to add music to the beginning of the song for the single release.
Clive Davis made the final decision on the version of the song to release.
Davis and Kevin Costner liked how the song started off acapella in the original mix, but Foster was still against it.
It gave me chills,
Davis said.
Foster kept trying to get music added to the start of the song. Davis insisted that he knew Houston would like the version without instruments better. Foster didn’t think that a song that started acapella would be played on the radio.
He repeated more obscenities in this conversation than I had ever heard,
Davis said of Foster.
Davis was given the final say about the song, and he chose the version with the acapella start that everyone knows and loves.
