Kevin Costner helped give Whitney Houston her big screen break with 1992's The Bodyguard, and had high hopes of making a film star out of another well-known beauty: Princess Diana.
"Diana and I had been talking about doing Bodyguard 2," Costner, 57, tells Anderson Cooper in an interview airing on Anderson in May to promote Costner's History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. "I told her I would take care of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney."
Producing and starring in the original flick that garnered the late Houston critical acclaim, Costner was willing to craft a role especially for the Princess of Wales in the follow-up.
"She wanted me to write it for her. I said 'I'll tailor it for you if you're interested.' She goes, 'I am interested,'" Costner recounted to Cooper.
In a 2003 interview, the actor told ABC that the film's sequel would feature his character shielding the People's Princess from paparazzi and stalkers before the duo became involved in a torrid affair.
In an ironic twist, the actor — who delivered the eulogy at Houston's February funeral — received a draft of the script for Bodyguard 2 on August 31, 1997 — the day before Diana perished in a Paris car crash at age 36.