The Bodyguard: What you never knew about the Whitney Houston movie

Really, what more could you ask for from a movie?

Released in 1992, the movie was panned by critics but went on to make $US410 million worldwide and was the second highest grossing movie of the year after Aladdin.

The film has now been turned into a musical theatre show which kicks off in Sydney next month with Australian Idol alumni Paulini playing Rachel Marron.

To celebrate the classic film, here are some little known facts, including which real life royal was keen to star in a sequel and who picked the classic song I Will Always Love You:

WHITNEY WAS APPREHENSIVE TO STAR IN THE FILM

Whitney Houston had never acted in a movie when she received a call from her manager with the offer to star in The Bodyguard.

“I wanted to do some acting, but I mean, I never thought I’d be co-starring with Kevin Costner!” she told Rolling Stone.

“I thought, ‘I’ll just get this little part somewhere, and I’ll work my way up.’ And all of a sudden I get this script, and I said: ‘I don’t know. This is kind of ... big.’

“I was scared. It took me two years to decide to do it. I kind of waited too long for Kevin. I think it got on his nerves. He called one day and said, ‘Listen, are you going to do this movie with me or not?’ I told him about my fears. I said: ‘I’m afraid. I don’t want to go out there and fall.’ And he said: ‘I promise you I will not let you fall. I will help you.’ And he did.”

CLOSE TO HOME

Houston was able to relate to the character of Rachel Marron because she too has been threatened by a fan.

“I’ve had someone write me a letter, somehow it got to me,” Houston said.

“It said that they were going to shoot me in the last couple seconds of my show. And they weren’t going to miss.”

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Whitney Houston’s version of Dolly Parton’s 1974 song sold over four million singles and won the singer two Grammy Awards.

But it wasn’t originally meant to feature in the film at all.

“Kevin Costner and his secretary are the ones that loved the song,” Parton told CMT.com.

“They had another song [rumoured to be Jimmy Ruffin’s What Becomes of the Brokenhearted] that was going to go in that place, and someone had recorded the song they were going to use. They were just in a panic at the last minute. And so they asked me about the song. I sent it. I didn’t hear anything more.”

Houston’s management team wasn’t thrilled about the song, but Kevin Costner managed to change their minds.

“When I said to Whitney, ‘You’re gonna sing I Will Always Love You, the ground shook,” Costner told CMT.com.

“Clive Davis and those guys were going, ‘What?!’ I said, ‘This is a very important song in this movie.’ I didn’t care if it was ever on the radio. I didn’t care. I said, ‘We’re also going to do this a cappella at the beginning. I need it to be a cappella because it shows a measure of how much she digs this guy — that she sings without music.’”

Whitney Houston

MEDICAL DRAMA

In an interview with Barbara Walters in 1993, Houston confirmed the rumour that she had a miscarriage during the filming of The Bodyguard.

“It was very painful, emotionally and physically,” she said to Walters.

“I was back on the set the next day. And it’s over. But I had Bobbi Kristina one year later, and I am blessed.”

THE BODYGUARD 2: STARRING PRINCESS DIANA

In 2012, Kevin Costner revealed to Anderson Cooper that Princess Diana was keen to star in a Bodyguard sequel. Seriously.

“I told her I would take care of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney,” Costner said.

“She wanted me to write it for her. I said, ‘I’ll tailor it for you if you’re interested.’ She goes, ‘I am interested.’”

Costner went ahead and commissioned a script for the potential film and received a first draft just one day before Princess Diana was killed in Paris.

After her death, Costner told Premiere magazine: “I picked it up [the script] and the first 30 pages were totally her. It was dignified, sexy, smart, funny — and I couldn’t finish. I stopped. It broke my heart.”

PIMPED OUT PAD

If you were a fan of Rachel Marron’s incredible mansion in the movie, the good news is that it’s currently up for sale in real life.

The bad news, however, is that it will set you back $A255 million.

Not only were scenes for The Bodyguard filmed there, but so too was the infamous ‘horse head in the bed’ scene in The Godfather.

John F Kennedy and Jackie also spent part of their honeymoon at the property after they tied the knot in 1953.

FYI — the house has 28 bedrooms, 38 bathrooms, a two-storey library and a garden-view bar.