Houston wasn't even sure she wanted to make The Bodyguard in the beginning. Costner, its coproducer, originally approached her about it in 1989 and was so eager to have her costar he was willing to postpone production for two years so she could work it into her schedule. But Houston, who has never taken acting lessons, was skeptical. ''I kept saying to him, 'What makes you think I can do this?' And he used to say to me'' — she launches into a playful imitation of Costner's flat Southern California drone — '''Whitney, listen. Every once in a blue moon you get this person who just comes around and has this quaaality. When you thought about a movie that had music in it, you used to think about Barbra or Diana. But now it's you.' And I'm like, 'That's what I want. I want it to be meeee!''' she sings, laughing.
''Barbra is definitely a role model,'' Houston continues. ''The Way We Were? God, I listened to that album every day when I woke up. I feel privileged to be in that group now.''
Unlike Streisand, Houston isn't sure she wants to focus her energies on a film career. ''I'm not dying to be a movie star,'' she says. ''I'm a singer, that's what's in my heart.'' But how she will mix movies and music is still unclear. ''She has the instinct of a performer,'' says Bodyguard director Mick Jackson (L.A. Story). ''I think her range will grow movie by movie.'' Clive Davis, president of Arista Records, who has advised her since signing her in 1983, says, ''I think it really depends on Whitney now. She can pick and choose what she wants. She's got to feel comfortable with it. She's got to want it.''
According to her executive assistant and longtime close friend, Robyn Crawford, Houston's management company has already ''nailed down a producer'' for her next film, though the exact project hasn't been chosen and there has been no mention yet of a Bodyguard sequel. ''When time is of the essence and you're hot, you don't sit back,'' Crawford says.
Houston seems to feel less urgency. ''In the summer, after the baby's born, I'll pick up a few scripts and see what's appealing,'' she says. ''I'm not rushing to do a film right now.''
A certain diffidence has always been her style. ''Whitney likes doing what she does, but I couldn't possibly think of her as a driven person,'' says her father, John, who is her business manager and CEO of her management company (called Nippy, Inc., after Whitney's childhood nickname). Though she makes all final decisions, the singer has very little to do with Nippy's day-to-day operations. ''My people go out there and they know what they're working toward,'' she says. ''When they come back to me, they say, 'Whitney, this is what we've got, what do you want to do?' It took me a long time to become boss lady and it wasn't a position I was enthused about, either. But I'm very much aware of what's happening.''
Then she shifts from business talk to point out that the baby's position has changed. ''Ooh, she's poking me in my side. See that? Isn't that amazing?''
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