Kevin Costner recently opened up about a contentious period in his life involving the British royal family following the tragic death of Princess Diana. The Oscar-winning actor revealed that he had been in discussions with Diana to star in a sequel to his 1992 hit film “The Bodyguard,” a project that was ultimately shelved after her untimely demise in 1997.
During an interview on “The Howard Stern Show,” Costner, now 69, shared that the royal family was skeptical about Diana’s willingness to participate in a Hollywood movie. This skepticism led to a significant fallout between Costner and the royals. “When Diana passed, about a year later it had leaked out that I was prepping ‘Bodyguard 2’ with her. And what happened was, the royal family kind of turned on me a little bit,” Costner recalled. “Like, ‘No, that’s not true.’ And it got actually kind of ugly. And I let it go for a while. It just got uglier and uglier.”
Costner had initially been introduced to Diana through Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. When the rumors about the sequel began to circulate, Costner reached out to Ferguson for assistance. “Finally I called up Sarah, and said, ‘Sarah, you need to tell me who is leading the charge there on this thing.’ She goes, ‘No, no, no, Kev, you don’t want to talk to them.’ I said, ‘Yes I do.’ I called them up and I said, ‘I’m telling you something, you need to stop because it is true. And if you don’t stop, I’m gonna start. Because it was.'”
At the time, Diana was separated from Prince Charles and was experiencing a strained relationship with the royal family. Costner detailed how he had approached Diana about the film through Ferguson. “I started talking to her through Sarah, and I said, ‘Look, I’m gonna do ‘Bodyguard 2′ and I think I can build this around you. Would you be interested?’ She goes, ‘Yes. My life’s about to change.’ I didn’t really go into depth with it, but I thought I understood what she was saying.”
Costner fondly remembered Diana’s sweet demeanor during their conversations. “She was very sweet and we talked. The second time we talked she said, ‘Is there going to be a kissing scene?’ I said, ‘Do you want there to be one?’ She said, ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘Then we’ll do that.’ I wasn’t going to make the full romance about her. But there was going to be a moment that we did. And she was so sweet about this.”
Following Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, Costner decided not to move forward with the sequel. “I could not replace Princess Di,” he said.
Years later, Costner had a touching encounter with Diana’s eldest son, Prince William. “We meet in a room. There’s nobody in the room. I sat across from him and he looked at me and he said, ‘My mom fancied you,'” Costner recalled. “It was the sweetest, gentlest thing. He believed the story, and believe it or not after the talk with the royal family, about two years later the butler came out and said, ‘Yeah, that was true what Kevin was saying, that she [Diana] was gonna do it.'”
Costner first spoke about the plans for “The Bodyguard” sequel in 2012, explaining that the plot was going to explore Diana’s complicated relationship with the paparazzi. Ironically, Diana died trying to flee paparazzi, who were chasing her through the streets of Paris that night.
The actor’s revelations have shed new light on the complex dynamics between Hollywood and the British royal family, as well as the personal connections that existed behind the scenes. Despite the project’s cancellation, Costner’s memories of Diana and his interactions with her family remain poignant reminders of what might have been.
