"It was important to me to use this opportunity to get Latin faces up on that screen."
The Queen of The Night in Warner Bros.' upcoming remake of "The Bodyguard" will be Latina, promises screen writer Matthew Lopez
Lopez, a Tony Award winning playwright, opened up about his approach for the film in a new interview with Variety -- and laid out what he hopes to change.
"When Warner Bros. approached me about the idea, I quickly said I would but I wanted the protagonist to be Latina. They agreed to that," he explained.
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View Story"There’s been a lot of speculation about what I'd bring to the remake and some people were assuming that there’d be a gay storyline to it," added Lopez, an out gay man himself whose critically claimed Broadway show "The Inheritance" revolves around gay men living in New York City.
"Instead of focusing on an established star like the one Whitney Houston played, this is about a young Latina performer who has just become famous. It's about how her life has changed because she is an overnight sensation," he continued.
The playwright also added, "In the 21st century, that means she's in immediate need of protection. It was important to me to use this opportunity to get Latin faces up on that screen and to get their stories told in a big way."
Lopez is coming off of a big night at the 2021 Tony Awards this year, where he became the first Latino playwright to win the Tony Award for best play.