Get ready for an updated version of The Bodyguard.
Warner Bros. has announced a new “reimagining” of the iconic Whitney Houston film.
The 1992 film was a smash hit and cultural phenomenon. Starring Houston as a singer being stalked and Kevin Costner as her bodyguard, the film grossed over $400M worldwide.
Its soundtrack is still the top-selling film soundtrack of all time with 45 million copies sold around the globe. Houston’s iconic rendition of the Dolly Parton-penned song “I Will Always Love You” went eight times platinum in the U.S. and is considered her signature song.
Per Deadline, “The new movie is reportedly inspired by the 1992 romantic drama which followed a former Secret Service agent, played by Costner, who takes on the job of bodyguard to an R&B singer, whose lifestyle is most unlike a President’s.”
Lawrence Kasdan of Kasdan Pictures, along with Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback are set to produce the new movie. Rideback’s Nick Reynolds will serve as executive producer. No stars have been attached to the film just yet.
The original film marked Houston’s big-screen debut back in 1992.
Matthew Lopez, the Tony-nominated playwright, has been hired to write the screenplay for the film. His latest play, The Inheritance, was hailed as “the most important American play of the century,” when it debuted on the West End in 2018. The play eventually transferred to Broadway in 2019.
The Inheritance received “the Olivier Award, Drama Desk Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award, London Critics’ Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, GLAAD Media Award, WhatsOnStage Award, and the South Bank Sky Arts Award,” per Variety.
Lopez celebrated his new gig on Instagram. He shared with his followers, “I will always love the original and I am excited to bring this story to a new generation of movie-goers!”
Per Variety, Lopez also signed an overall television deal with Amazon Studios. His projects including scripting the feature film adaptation of Leading Men, the novel based on playwright Tennessee Williams, who wrote A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
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