Kevin Costner as a knight serving as Lady Di, as he did for Whitney Houston in Bodyguard, the idea is attractive. She even really pleased the main interested party at the time, a fact that is ultimately not surprising when we know how the princess felt hounded by the paparazzi and struggled to feel protected. And sadly cynical when we know the disastrous conclusion of this very real story, on August 31, 1997 under the Pont de l’Alma in Paris.
The 69-year-old actor and director revealed the incredible story on Howard Stern’s show Tuesday. Lady Diana was then separated from Prince Charles, and was at odds with the royal family.
“What happened was I started talking to him through Sarah (Ferguson, Duchess of York and Prince Andrew’s ex-wife), and I said, ‘Look, I will do Bodyguard 2” and I would like to build that around you. Would you be interested? », he confided to the microphone of the Howard Stern Show.
Upheaval
The mother of Princes William and Harry reportedly replied: “Yes, my life is about to change.” “I didn’t really ask why, but I thought I understood what she meant,” Kevin Costner added.
Continuing the discussions, the Princess of Wales wanted to know if there would be a kissing scene. “I said, ‘Do you want there to be one?’ She said “Yes” and I said “Then we’ll do it.” I didn’t intend to make the whole film around this love story. But there would have been a moment in that sense. And she was very open about it,” confided the actor of Dancing with the wolves.
Unfortunately, the princess died at age 36 in a car accident when the script had just been completed, in August 1997, and Kevin Costner abandoned his project. “I couldn’t replace Princess Diana,” he notes.
Royal appointment
In 1998, the rumor of this project reached the ears of Buckingham Palace. The royal family apparently took a personal grudge against the actor for spreading the gossip, not believing the princess was willing to star in a Hollywood film. “What happened was the royal family kind of turned their back on me,” says the Yellowstone.
He remembers that then “it got a little ugly. I let it slide for a while. It got uglier and uglier.”
The resentment was short-lived, however. Prince William even asked to meet him and a meeting was arranged in Scotland.
“We met in a room. There is no one in the room. I sat across from him, he looked at me and said, “My mother had a crush on you.” It was the sweetest, kindest thing ever. He believed the story,” concluded Kevin Costner.
