In today’s WHAT-IN-THE-HECK royal rewind – Christopher Anderson‘s The Day Diana Died says that Princess Diana was discussing starring in The Bodyguard 2 with Kevin Costner around the time of her death. Butler Paul Burrell says something similar in A Royal Duty but he didn’t have the juicy details.

The original film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston was a box office and critical success in 1992. (“Queen of the Night” was probably one of the most important songs of my youth, BTW.) The film made Whitney Houston a superstar.

The idea of a sequel is cringe to begin with (à la Grease 2) but when you add the element of Princess Diana playing “a princess” in the film… the entire concept just seems silly, right?

Paul Burrell made it sound like Diana never really considered the offer but was flattered while Christopher Anderson reveals that there was serious discussion to the point of multiple scripts being developed.

According to Anderson, it was Sarah Duchess of York aka Fergie that initially befriended Costner on a trip to China. Fergie told the Hollywood hunk that Princess Diana loved The Bodyguard, owned it and watched it repeatedly. Costner excitingly shared that he was working on the sequel! That is when Fergie told him, “You and Diana would make wonderful lovers on screen! Why don’t you ask her? I’ll bet she’d do it!”

Although Burrell’s memory contradicts Anderson’s account a tad, Anderson says that the Princess initiated the conversation with Kevin Costner. “It quickly became clear to Costner that Diana identified with the lonely, hunted pop diva played by Whitney Houston in the original,” explains Anderson.

Without hesitation from Warner Bros., Costner offered Princess Diana the lead role in The Bodyguard sequel. The film was to be set in Hong Kong and focused on a princess that falls in love with her bodyguard after a failed kidnapping attempt. Costner is quoted as saying that they, “talked on the phone about the level of sophistication and dignity that the part would have. It would be tailored for her.”

Diana explained, “My life is – maybe – going to become my own at some point. Go ahead and do this script and when it’s ready I’ll be in a really good spot.” Then Costner responded, “When I come to you with the script, I’m going to try to be hard to resist. I’ll tell you truthfully this is going to be good or I wouldn’t be doing it.” He says that Diana laughed at his pleas.

Costner says that Diana was excited to explore the opportunity. “She wanted to talk,” he explains. “Her life was complicated. She wanted the right to reinvent herself. But she wanted to be delicate about it.”

Speaking of delicate… I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I read that the original script included a NUDE SCENE! And a sex scene! According to Anderson, the bodyguard aka Costner is seen doing a “routine security check” when he notices that the master bedroom door is open. As he walks in, Diana’s character appears stepping out of the shower. “She stands transfixed, just for a few seconds,” it reads. Then she grabs her robe. Later there’s a scene in the movie where the husband is out of town and the bodyguard stumbles upon the princess in the dark and… fireworks.

Princess Diana was rumored to be making $10 million dollars for the project. However, she planned on distributing it to charity.

Costner received the second draft of the script three days before Princess Diana died. He sat down to read it the day after he learned of her death. “I picked it up and the first 30 pages were totally her,” he says sadly. “It was dignified, sexy, smart, funny, and I couldn’t finish it. I stopped. It broke my heart.”

Had Diana lived she might have made this movie, however, I think it would have been made without the nude scene or the sexy time with Costner. Towards the end of Diana’s life, the boys and their opinions of her and her choices were very important to her. How fascinating to discover that the process got as far as it did.

Princess Diana loved to get lost in movies so you know that she had to have been so flattered by the opportunity!

Get Christopher Anderson’s The Day Diana Died to learn more.

Kinsey Schofield is the Founder of To Di For Daily and you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.