The Bodyguard, which came out in 1992, was the biggest romantic drama of the year. It starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
The movie was a huge hit at the box office, and the soundtrack, on which Whitney sang a number of power ballads, sold millions of copies all over the world. Her version of “I Will Always Love You” was one of the songs on the album.
But there was something else about the movie that was really nice: the actors who played Kevin and Whitney on screen became close friends. Their bond was so strong that Kevin spoke at her funeral in 2012, even though she had already died.
In the first version of The Bodyguard, Diana Ross was supposed to play the main role.
The main character in The Bodyguard was a quiet, traditional man who, against his better judgment, agreed to protect a famous person who was known for being a bit of a diva from someone who was sending her threatening letters.
In the early 1990s, Kevin Costner was chosen to play the main role in the movie. Once he accepted the role, he quickly became very involved in the making of the movie. Some of the ideas the actor had for the movie’s script had been floating around for almost 20 years.
Lawrence Kasdan wrote the first versions of the script in 1975, and Diana Ross and Steve McQueen were supposed to star in the movie at the time. Even so, the script was rejected 67 times before it was finally accepted. After that, it was thrown away.
McQueen’s role had been taken over by Ryan O’Neal, whom Ross was dating at the time. But Ross didn’t end up joining the project, though, and it was almost forgotten about until a relatively unknown actor named Costner read the script.
Kevin Costner became a Hollywood star because of the movie “Dances with Wolves.” He then helped make the movie “The Bodyguard.”
Kevin Costner was quite adamant about wanting Whitney.
By the early 1990s, Whitney Houston had already become a major figure in the world of pop music.
In a later interview, Costner said that he moved to Houston for a few main reasons: “I saw her like every red-blooded male would see her: I thought she was really pretty.”
But he quickly realized that Whitney was the only one who could play Rachel, and he was willing to wait a whole year for her to agree to the part. “I just thought she was that right.”
At first, Whitney didn’t want to take part in the activity.
Costner’s job was to get Whitney to agree to play the part. By then, Whitney had already made a name for herself as a successful pop singer, and she was thinking about switching to acting.
She told Rolling Stone, though, that she wanted to start her career with roles that were less important: “I never thought I’d be co-starring with Kevin Costner!”
She was afraid that “people would dog me before they gave me the chance to do the job” because she knew that, like Madonna, she would get a lot of attention as a pop star who moved to Hollywood, and she was afraid that the same thing would happen to her.
Kevin Costner had to call her in person before she finally agreed to play the part. He told her he wouldn’t let her embarrass herself in front of him, and she agreed. He kept his promise.
On the other hand, he told her not to take acting classes. “He said: ‘I promise you I will not let you fall. I will help you,'” she said. “And he did.”
Kevin Costner gave a heartfelt speech at the funeral of Whitney Houston.
Kevin gave an eloquent speech at Whitney’s funeral that was a fitting tribute to her. During his twenty-minute speech, he talked about the singer and told several stories about her.
“Arguably the biggest pop star in the world didn’t think she was good enough,” he said, remembering the tears on set as Whitney questioned her voice.
“Whitney, if you could hear me now, I would tell you, you weren’t just good enough, you were great. You sang the whole damn song without a band. You made the picture what it was.
“A lot of leading men could’ve played my part … but you, Whitney, I truely believe you were the only one who could’ve played Rachel Marron at that time. You weren’t just pretty, you were as beautiful as a woman could be. And people didn’t just like you Whitney, they loved you.”
In the end, when he had tears in his eyes, he said: “Off you go Whitney, off you go. Escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly father. When you sing before him, don’t you worry. You’ll be good enough.”
Kevin wrote letters to Whitney a lot.
In February 2012, when Whitney Houston died, Kevin released a statement in which he said: “She was my one true love”.
In April of that year, Costner was interviewed by Anderson Cooper for CNN. During the interview, he talked about the letters he had written to Whitney in the past, hoping that they would help her get the help she needed to get over her addiction. Costner wrote the letters to try to get her to go to the hospital for help.
“There are some people that really love Whitney, and a couple times during the last seven, eight years, they asked me, would I write her a letter?” Costner said.
“She would always be close to me, she would always be somebody I appreciated. When someone says, will you write a letter to someone who you know is having trouble … I did.
“I don’t know if those letters were ever read.”
There were a lot of things that Kevin and Whitney had in common.
“We both grew up in a Baptist church. It was easy for us to laugh,” Costner said at Whitney’s funeral.
“The church was what we knew. It was our private bond,” he said.
“I can see her in my own mind running around here as a skinny little girl knowing everyone, everyone’s business, knowing every inch of this place. I can also see her in trouble, too.”
