Costner had hard time convincing people to cast Whitney in debut film role

London, Feb 19 (ANI): Whitney Houston's co-star in her 1992 movie debut 'The Bodyguard', Kevin Costner, talked about the troubles he had to face for her to be cast in the movie.

He addressed her funeral on Saturday and said that the decision to take Houston for the role had faced many questions.

"I was reminded this would be her first acting role - you could also think about another singer was a suggestion, maybe somebody white," the Mirror quoted him as saying.

"Nobody ever said it out loud, but it was a fair question, there would be a lot riding on this, maybe a more experienced actress was the way to go. It was clear I really had to think about this.

"I told everyone I had taken notice that Whitney was black. The only problem was I thought she was perfect for what we were trying to do," he said.

Apart from that, Houston herself was filled with self-doubt over playing Rachel Marron, a successful pop star.

"The greatest pop star in the world didn't think she was good enough... There were a thousand things that seemed to her to be wrong," People magazine quoted him as saying.

Costner said when she was screen testing for the role, which was put in production a year later than slated because Houston was on tour, she asked herself, "Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Will they like me?"

As those attending the funeral laughed, the actor remembered how she almost sabotaged herself that day while re-touching her makeup with her own cosmetic products, which melted under the studio lighting.

"I wanted to tell her that the game was rigged, that I didn't care how the test went, that she could fall down and start speaking tongues," he said.

"That I'd find a way to explain it as an extraordinary acting choice.

"And gee, weren't we lucky to have her?" he added. (ANI)