Hollywood has been poking a stick at the concept of bringing back The Bodyguard for a minute, at least: We wrote, way back in 2021, about Warner Bros. tapping playwright Matthew López to pen a rewrite of the 1992 hit/ridiculously successful soundtrack vehicle. That story went quiet pretty much immediately after it came out, but we should all know by now that The Remake Machine never truly sleeps. Now, WB execs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have confirmed that they’re remaking this thing, with an interesting choice to direct: Concert filmmaker Sam Wrench, who had a massive hit with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in 2023.
Now, you could argue that Wrench could have set up a tripod in the back of an arena and left it running, “Dad filming the school play” style, and still made $200 million with The Eras Tour. But he is a pretty accomplished concert movie maker, having worked with Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Mary J. Blige, Lizzo, and more. His drama chops are way less proven, but at least the concerts in this hypothetical movie—which is now being written by Juror No. 2‘s Jonathan A. Abrams—will presumably look spot-on.
The big question mark on this thing, of course, is casting. Sure, Hollywood has about a billion guys who could step into the Kevin Costner role, glowering sexily as the bodyguard who breaks the one rule every member of the profession must follow. (Always vet the target’s sister to see if she’s a jealous murderer. Also, never fall in love.) But filling the Whitney Houston role is going to be a tall order, even for a guy with a Rolodex like Wrench’s. Don’t worry, aspiring pop star/actor! All you have to do is make a billion dollars at the box office (adjusted roughly for inflation), and produce the number one album in the country off of it! What’s so hard about that?
[via Deadline]
