More than three decades after The Bodyguard cemented Whitney Houston as a movie star, a remake is in the works — and Tyra Banks thinks Taylor Swift is the modern-day pop star who can fill the icon’s shoes this time around.
While guest-hosting a recent episode of Today With Jenna & Friends, the supermodel revealed that — as a big fan of the original movie — she’d love to see the Eras Tour headliner take over Houston’s role as famous musician Rachel Marron in the new film. “I’m so beyond excited,” Banks began of the announcement earlier this month that Warner Bros. is developing a revamped Bodyguard. “That movie is everything.”
When co-host Jenna Bush Hager asked her who should star in the flick, Banks replied, “I think Taylor Swift, because business, commerce, art.”
And? “She would freaking sell like crazy,” the America’s Next Top Model host added.
As for who should step into Kevin Costner’s shoes as the leading lady’s titular protector, Banks thinks a certain British actor could balance out an onscreen duo with the “Fortnight” singer. “Okay, I’m just gonna be real. I’m a Black girl,” she said. “It was Whitney Houston as a Black girl and Kevin Costner as a white man. What if we flipped it, and it was Taylor Swift and Idris Elba?”
Of her idea for the pairing, Banks excitedly added that Swift and the Beast star would be “hot!”
Directed by Mick Jackson and released in 1992, The Bodyguard marked Houston’s first starring role in a film after she’d already scaled to the top of the charts as a pop star. Its corresponding album remains one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time, spending 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spawning Houston’s timeless, Billboard Hot 100-topping rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
And though casting details for the upcoming remake remain unknown, Swift — who’s previously acted in films such as The Giver (2014), Cats (2019) and Amsterdam (2022) — does already have a connection to the project. Sam Wrench, who directed her blockbuster Eras Tour concert film, will be helming the new Bodyguard, as reported by Deadline on April 11.
Watch Banks share her thoughts on the upcoming Bodyguard remake above.
