Is Taylor Swift preparing to step into the late Whitney Houston’s lauded, beloved shoes? That’s the question roiling social media today, after news broke that Sam Wrench, the director of massively popular concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, has agreed to direct a remake of The Bodyguard, a 33-year-old romantic thriller starring Houston as an endangered pop icon and Kevin Costner as her titular protector.
Warner Bros’ original version of the film, which was released in 1992, marked the film debut for Houston, who by then was one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Originally written by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan in the 1970s as a vehicle for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen, the Mick Jackson-directed movie spawned one of the best-selling soundtracks ever and won the Grammy for the album of the year.
Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, the present day co-chairman/CEOs at Warner Bros Pictures, spilled the Bodyguard 2.0 beans to Deadline on Friday, saying in an interview that “When we got here, one of the first things we did was look at what is here. What could we identify quickly, IP that could be big movies?”
The Bodyguard appeared to be near the top of the list, along with legacy property Beetlejuice (hence Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) and Minecraft (A Minecraft Movie, the long-delayed adaptation of that popular game, is currently breaking box-office records). Wrench, a director whose resume is packed with concert films, has been tapped to direct.
Its script will come from Jonathan A. Abrams, whose biggest credits are arguably the book for the short-lived Huey Lewis-centric jukebox musical The Heart of Rock and Roll and the screenplay for 2024’s Juror #2, the latter of which was his feature screenwriting debut.
Casting has yet to be announced for the film, which has yet to set a release date. But as you can imagine, there’s one name on many social media users’ lips: Taylor Swift, of course.
The speculation makes a certain sort of sense. Though Branch’s body of work is large, his biggest-profile film is 2023’s Swift-led Eras, which remains the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Then, just last month, rumors spread on X (formerly Twitter) that Swift had been exploring a move to film, so the timing of the news feels auspicious. While rumors on X are as reliable as that phone charger you bought at the bodega, she likely has the skills to pull this one off—check out her charming turn in 2010’s Valentine’s Day if you don’t believe me.
Then again, maybe Swift’s acting days are behind her, and she’d prefer to direct. In a 2022 discussion at the Toronto International Film Festival, Swift said, “I’m at a place now where the next baby step is not a baby step. It would be committing to making a film. And I feel like I would just absolutely love for the right opportunity to arise because I just absolutely, absolutely adore telling stories this way.”
