FILM · 1992 · USA
The Bodyguard
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
As of 2021, with over 50 million albums sold, the film ranks among the best-selling soundtracks of all time. Saturday Night Fever (1977) sits in second place with roughly 10 million fewer albums sold.
- #002
Whitney Houston suffered a miscarriage during production and spent several weeks recovering.
- #003
In 2019, Kevin Costner revealed that the woman he carries on the film's poster is actually Whitney Houston's stunt double. Houston had left the set, so Costner decided to shoot the photo with her double. He told her to keep her face hidden so she could convey the fear the character feels. Costner later chose the exact photo to be used on the film poster.
- #004
This was Whitney Houston's first film role. Kevin Costner was one of the film's producers. He campaigned for Houston to play Rachel.
- #005
Whitney Houston said Kevin Costner taught her to focus on listening and communicating through his eyes.
- #006
Kevin Costner said he based the character Frank Farmer on Steve McQueen. He even got McQueen's signature haircut for the role.
- #007
Crew driver Bill Vitagliano died in an accident on set. While a scene in an underground parking garage was being prepared, he was crushed between two colliding scissor lifts.
- #008
Kevin Costner said that if he could change one thing about the film, he would not have wanted the shoot to take place during the Oscars.
- #009
Whitney Houston was to give Kevin Costner singing lessons on set in exchange for acting advice.
- #010
In the airport scene where the camera circles actors Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, the centrifugal force was so extreme that the camera operator fell. He got back on while the camera kept rolling and finished the scene. That was the method used in the film.
- #011
This was the second highest-grossing film of 1992 worldwide, after Aladdin (1992).
- #012
This film, starring Diana Ross and Steve McQueen, was first proposed in the mid-1970s but was rejected on the grounds that it was "too controversial." The concept was tried again in the late 1970s with Ryan O'Neal and Diana Ross in the lead roles. The project fell apart a few months later due to irreconcilable differences between Ross, who was dating O'Neal, and O'Neal.
- #013
Shortly after first meeting David Foster, Kevin Costner asked him to produce for him.
- #014
Rachel and Frank go to see Yojimbo (1961), which premiered in the United States under the title "The Bodyguard."
- #015
Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston bonded over having grown up in the Baptist Church. Costner told Houston a story about being caught secretly drinking grape juice from the communion cups.
- #016
This film was presented and rejected 67 times. The fictional Academy Awards ceremony depicted is the 67th ceremony, which took place in 1995.
- #017
When test audiences mocked Whitney Houston's performance, the film was quickly re-cut.
- #018
DeVaughn Nixon said Kevin Costner always told him to respect women and be a gentleman. Whitney Houston's advice was always to believe in yourself and to believe.
- #019
The witty host of the fictional Academy Awards ceremony is Robert Wuhl, who wrote jokes for Billy Crystal's Oscar hosting duties in 1990 and 1991.
- #020
The Rachel Marron Barbie doll seen at the beginning of the film was made by customizing an existing Barbie's Friend Christie doll with different hair and special outfits.
- #021
The basement used as Kevin Costner's basement in the film is Gibbs's basement in NCIS (2003).
- #022
Because his mother could not come to Tahoe, DeVaughn Nixon thought of Whitney Houston as his "mom" on the film set.
- #023
During his eulogy at Whitney Houston's funeral on February 18, 2012, Kevin Costner said that when Whitney auditioned for the role, her makeup began to run down her face. Before the audition, Whitney had hurriedly removed her set makeup to feel more normal and put on her concert makeup; the heat of the lighting caused the concert makeup to run. Kevin stopped the audition quickly. Whitney went back to her trailer and told Kevin what had happened. The film's makeup was reapplied and the audition was completed successfully.
- #024
Whitney Houston had a cold while recording "Run to You" for the film.
- #025
At the fictional Academy Awards ceremony, the Best Sound Oscar was given to Mychal Smith and Kay Colvin (a boom operator and a cable broadcast technician, respectively), the Best Song winner was written by Nancy Garber (the film's art department researcher), and one of the fictional nominated songwriters was Leslie Moraes (the film's assistant location manager).
- #026
Mick Jackson told Whitney Houston to think of every scene as a song.
- #027
There were rumors of a sequel in the works in which Kevin Costner would return as Frank Farmer, an interest he expressed before Princess Diana's death in 1997. A remake, however, is in development.
- #028
Zinc's atomic number is actually 30.
- #029
This is one of several films whose screenplay presents a fictional Academy Awards ceremony and which was later nominated for real Academy Awards. This film received two Best Song nominations, while another film in similar circumstances, California Suite (1978), won an Oscar in an acting category.
- #030
Whitney Houston had to postpone eight concert dates during the Bodyguard tour because of throat problems.
- #031
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan is a fan of director Akira Kurosawa. He therefore named the film after Yojimbo (1961) and wrote the male lead for Steve McQueen, who had starred in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a remake of Seven Samurai (1954). Two characters in Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958) inspired C-3PO and R2-D2 in the Star Wars films Kasdan wrote.
- #032
Kevin Costner first saw the screenplay while working with Lawrence Kasdan on Silverado (1985).
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