Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “The Bodyguard”

How Whitney got the role

But then when the movie fell into Kevin Costner’s lap, he immediately knew that he wanted Whitney Houston for the lead. He said in an 1992 interview that “I liked her essence. I liked her elegance. When she stands up…I think if you remember the first time you ever see Whitney, maybe you can’t isolate where you first saw her, but some people have this thing that comes along every ten years. When she stands up and sings, she occupies a place that I think Streisand occupies, Diana Ross did. There’s fabulous singers that come and go throughout the ages and will but sometimes when one stands up and you look, there’s an elegance that’s right there. And that was very appealing to me.”

And even though he felt convinced that she was the one, Whitney wasn’t so sure at first. She spent a lot of time deciding if she was going to take the role or not. She, being famous already, had a busy schedule but Costner wanted Whitney so much for the role, he waited for her for a year while she made her mind up. Whitney eventually decided to take the role because she realized Rachel was her own woman, who didn’t answer to anyone. She liked that this was a woman in control and she didn’t know when the opportunity for a woman, and particularly a black woman, to play this role again.