Yahoo Movies That’s not Whitney Houston on ‘The Bodyguard’ poster, reveals Kevin Costner
The Bodyguard movie poster is one of the finest ever created.
The black and white combination of rain and Kevin Costner holding Whitney Houston tight immediately provided a crystal clear idea of what the romantic thriller would be like. 27 years after its release, it is still the endearing image from the film, and one of the main reasons why it went on to gross $411 million worldwide.
But Kevin Costner has now made a stunning revelation that Whitney Houston isn’t actually on The Bodyguard poster.
“That wasn’t even Whitney actually,” Costner told Entertainment Weekly. “She had gone home and that was her double, and her head was buried into my shoulder, which was appropriate anyway. She was frightened.”
The image for the poster was taken straight out of one of The Bodyguard’s most memorable scenes, which saw Costner’s Frank Farmer carrying musical superstar Rachel Marron out of a nightclub after a riot has broken out. Costner instantly recognised that it would make for the perfect poster.
“I picked that picture out because my friend Ben Glass took it…I sent it to Warner Bros and I go, ‘There’s the poster.’ Because it was so evocative. It wasn’t special photography; it wasn’t anything.”
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Unsurprisingly, Warner Bros had an issue with this choice because it didn’t show Whitney Houston’s face. In fact, Costner recalled that they were so adamant that the singer needed to be seen they made “five mockups where they put her head [on it], where she’s looking [out].”
Costner won them over by glibly dismissing their efforts, and saying, “Guys, I think we had it the first time.” The fact that The Bodyguard poster is still rightfully regarded as iconic proves that he was clearly in the right.
