THE BODYGUARD

'''The Bodyguard''' is a 1992 film directed by Mick Jackson, with a script by Lawrence Kasdan, and starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

Contents

Plot

Reception and awards

Background

Soundtrack

Trivia

References

External links

Plot

Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) is an international singer and movie star. Her life is put in danger when an obsessed fan wants her dead. This is where security expert Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) comes in. He must protect his client whatever the circumstances and whatever the price may be. Farmer never lets his guard down, and Marron is living up to her reputation as a diva. Each of them expects to be in charge of the situation but what neither of them expects is to fall in love.
As the killer raises the stakes, Farmer must protect the woman he is now involved with, but will his feelings for Rachel cloud his judgement?

Reception and awards

The film is one of the top 100 grossing films of all time, grossing 410.9 million dollars at the worldwide box office, though it never made the number 1 spot at the U.S. box office. It is currently ranked #77 on the IMDb's World-Wide box-office. Shortly after its release it became the 10th highest grossing movie of all-time.
The film was nominated for 2 Academy Awards both in the "Best Original Song" category, but both lost out to the Disney film ''Aladdin''. The film however did win at other awards. It won a BRIT Award for "Best Soundtrack", an MTV Movie Award for "Best Movie" and "Best Movie Song".
Likewise however, the film was also nominated for seven Razzie awards including "Worst Movie", "Worst Actor", and "Worst Actress", but did not win in any of its nominated categories.

Background

The film was originally proposed in 1976 with Steve McQueen and Diana Ross in the leads. After McQueen fell ill with cancer it was proposed again in 1979, starring Ryan O'Neal and Ross again in the leads. The project fell through due to irreconcilable differences in the relationship of the two stars. Costner stated that he based Frank Farmer on Steve McQueen; even cutting his hair like McQueen.
Madonna was considered for the role of Rachel. She can be seen being informally rejected for the role in her documentary ''. This takes place during the scene where Madonna meets with Costner.
During recording of the song "I Will Always Love You", there was some difficulty arranging the cover until someone suggested that Whitney Houston sing the first verse without instrumental backing, and that version became the one used in the film.
Originally, the song that Rachel performs at the end of the film was meant to be "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", which was originally sung by Jimmy Ruffin. However, shortly before Whitney Houston was to record her version of the song, it was released by Paul Young for the movie ''Fried Green Tomatoes''. It was then quickly decided that the song Rachel would sing would be Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You". The original song "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" remains as Rachel's song for Frank in the novelization of the movie.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the film is the second best selling soundtrack of all time (the first being ''Saturday Night Fever''). The ''Bodyguard soundtrack'' sold over 17 million copies sold in North America and 42 million worldwide. Houston's cover version of "I Will Always Love You" is the most successful cover tune ever (the song was written and originally performed by Dolly Parton).

Trivia

★ During filming of the end scene (Whitney Houston running to Kevin Costner and kissing him), The camera was to follow a track, transfer to circular track and continually circle around Costner and Houston while they kissed. The first time they filmed it, the camera man was flung off by the force of the camera as it spun around. The camera man got back up, ran to catch up with the camera(which was still filming) and got back on it again. This shot was used in the film.

★ The mansion used as Rachel Marron's home is the same mansion used in the infamous "Horse Head" scene in The Godfather.

★ During the climax of the film, at the fictional Academy Awards there are multiple "winners" announced. These include 'Best Sound' which went to Mychal Smith and Kay Colvin who were actually the boom operator and cable person working on the film. The 'Best Song' winners writer is named as Nancy Garber who in truth was the films art department researcher, and one of the fictional nominated songwriters is called Leslie Moraes who in actuallity was the films assistant location manager.

★ It was rumoured for a long time that Princess Diana was in talks to star as the lead female role in a sequel to The Bodyguard ^[1]. It was set to star Kevin Costner again as Frank Farmer. However the film never got past the final draft stage, as Diana was killed in a car crash before the film could progress any further. More recently Costner was interviewed saying he was still interested in making a sequel^[2].

References

1. Bodyguard 2 & Princess Diana
2. Is The Bodyguard 2 Back Up & Running Again?

External links

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