EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has just set plans to revamp The Bodyguard, the 1992 romantic drama thriller that teamed superstars Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. The studio, which released the original, has set Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour director Sam Wrench to helm and script by Juror No. 2 writer Jonathan A. Abrams, Deadline has learned.
The news was revealed Friday in an interview with Warner Bros’ co-film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. No casting has been set, but after the first film’s star duo and box office success (it made $411 million worldwide box office and landed a pair of Oscar nominations) it certainly will be a casting process to watch. Beyond Swift, there are many singers who could play the singing star that this should be a magnet for an exciting cast.
The original plot centered on Costner’s former Secret Service agent Frank Farmer, who takes a job as bodyguard to famous R&B star Rachel Marron, played by Houston at the height of her pop-star fame. Drama, romance and a thriller plot ensue as Frank tries to sniff out a dangerous stalker, with the final act playing out as Rachel wins the Best Picture Academy Award.
Mick Jackson directed the pic, which was penned by Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark scribe Lawrence Kasdan. The pic was nominated for two Oscars for its songs, and its soundtrack became the best-selling of all time (and the best-selling album by a female artist of all time). Its hits included “I Will Always Love You,” “I’m Every Woman,” “Queen of the Night” and the Oscar-nommed “Run to You” and “I Have Nothing.”
Wrench was the director behind Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, the concert movie spawned from Swift’s historic almost two-year-long global tour that obliterated the record with more than $2 billion in ticket sales across 149 shows. The movie grossed $261.7 million worldwide.
Jonathan A. Abrams made his feature screenwriting debut with Juror #2, the Clint Eastwood-directed court thriller starring Nicholas Hoult. The pic bowed last fall to critical acclaim and grossed $24.8 million in the U.S.
Warner Bros has been prioritizing finding directors who spark to the company’s IP, with other revivals in the works for franchises like The Matrix (with Drew Goddard writing and directing), the recent Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and past hits like Practical Magic reteaming Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, and Gremlins and Goonies in development with Chris Columbus.
Other IP plays in the works include Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Jay Roach with their Oceans Eleven prequel; Matt Reeves as producer, working with Marvel’s Werewolf By Night director Michael Giacchino on a remake of the library title Them; Andy Serkis directing Gollum; and Cat in the Hat being co-directed by Jon M. Chu among others in the quiet stages.
