PROFILE
Oscar winner, sex symbol, eco-warrior, father of seven. So A Man of His Wordthere is a clear message in this story who is the real Kevin Costner? “I take my promises very seriously.” that I think people can take away.” As Kim Izzo discovers, all of It’s the sort of line spoken by the lead- and her father, Spencer’s son, is bat- Articulate and passionate about the above – and then some ing man, the classically handsome, tling drug addiction and has been ab- his work and the world around him, tall and laconic type who shows up sent from the girl’s entire life up until as Costner speaks he brings to mind when the chips are down and with now. The plot, as Costner suggests, is certain actors of another generation. eyes that never waver and a voice that intricate and deftly explores racial Often compared to screen legend resonates, who saves the day. You can and class barriers as well as the deli- Gary Cooper, a lanky and laconic easily imagine the likes of mega mov- cate nature of family ties. “I was star- leading man if there ever was one, ie star Kevin Costner speaking such a tled by how much I was a ected by Costner strikes me more like another line and you wouldn’t be wrong. Only [the script]. Every time I thought the Hollywood icon, James Stewart, a Costner wasn’t reading from a script movie was going one way it went an- man who played characters known when he said them. Instead, he was other, and I thought that’s really what for eloquent speeches in lms such explaining to me how he came to in- a movie is supposed to be,” Costner as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. vest $9 million of his own money in explains. “And I just found the char- Like Stewart, who in real life was one of his latest lms, Black or White. acters and what they were saying real- reputed to be one of the good guys, “I thought it was powerful and that it ly authentic and as a storyteller that’s Costner appears to be how you’d im- had the ability to be commercial even what you always want. When you’re agine him to be. Onscreen he embod- though it wasn’t a terribly expensive dealing with where the country is at ies strength of character, con dence movie. It was our money, my partner this point when it comes to race it just and above all human decency, com- and I,” he explains on the phone from seemed even more poignant.” modities that are increasingly tough New York. “What had happened was The performances are stellar, and to nd in our day-to-day lives and in I had made a promise to the director the lm both tugs at the heartstrings an ever increasingly violent, danger- [Mike Binder who directed Costner in – after all, at its core, it’s about the ous and uncertain world. And o - The Upside of Anger] that we were go- welfare of a little girl – and also pro- screen too he seems to walk the walk ing to make it, and so I took it around vokes dialogue about race. Released of the all-American good guy. to all the usual suspects in town, and Jan. 30, the movie hits the mark, “The movies taught me how to be it was not going to get made, but I had coinciding with recent events in heroic. I saw my dad behave that way. promised him and when I looked in Ferguson, Mo., and New York. The But in the movies, I want to be those the mirror, the only person who was timing is accidental, but it should guys. I want to be those women. When going to make this was me.” call attention to the lm as it has you sit in the dark you go, ‘I hope I’m The film, which bowed at the with Selma, also released in January, them.’ And the only way you’re ever Toronto International Film Festival and perhaps provoke conversations going to know is if you get yourself last September, is about a white about race and how di cult it is to into a tough spot because it’s easy to grandfather (Costner) and a black talk about, even among friends. “I act that way when things are going grandmother (Octavia Spencer) bat- make all kinds of movies – roman- well,” he says. “But when you have to tling over the custody of their bi- tic comedies, Westerns, love stories, plug the boat, when you have to bail racial seven-year-old granddaughter political thrillers. I mean that’s the it, when you have to make sure that who has been raised her whole life thing I’ve actually enjoyed about be- everyone is paid before you’re paid or by Costner and his wife, who has just ing able to have my career. I haven’t you’re running for cover or declaring died. The child’s mother, Costner’s pigeoned myself,” he says. “So I didn’t bankruptcy, and that’s not a foul be-
PHOTOGRAPHY, AMANDA FRIEDMAN/TRUNK ARCHIVE FRIEDMAN/TRUNK AMANDA PHOTOGRAPHY, daughter, died in childbirth at 17, make this to be a message movie, but cause some people get themselves
59 into a tough spot, but you have to say, and nd something that they can do ‘Who are you?’ And we’re not perfect and they can be great at, and so great but the idea that you tried more often that it translates into these results to do the right thing. And doing the that are there for everyone to see.” right thing when it’s the hardest is The lm’s director, Niki Caro, said the closest measure to who you are.” that when it came to casting the lead it Despite an inauspicious start as an was an easy decision. “Kevin was both actor, where he was famously left on mine and the studio’s clear choice for the cutting room £oor of The Big Chill, Jim White. He has a peerless track re- Costner has built his 30-plus-year cord in sports dramas and audiences career playing the archetypical love him in this kind of role,” she ex- American hero in classic cine - plains. “What is so satisfying for me matic genres such as Westerns, in- about his performance in this movie cluding Silverado and Hatfields is that we see not only Kevin Costner & McCoys; sports films Field the great actor, but Kevin Costner as of Dreams and Draft Day; roman- a great man. In this movie we see his tic leads in the likes of Message in a humanity and his humility.” Bottle and The Bodyguard; and pol- Working with a cast of young boys, itical thrillers such as No Way Out many of whom had never acted be- and 3 Days to Kill. There are more fore may have been a challenge, but blockbuster hits on his resume, per- according to director Caro, Costner haps most notably The Untouchables rose to the occasion. “Kevin was ex- and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, tremely generous with the boys in the and of course the lm he starred, movie. The rst time he met them at directed and produced to great ac- the read-through he told them that claim, Dances With Wolves, which what they were about to experience netted Oscars for Best Picture and would be something that they would Directing. Indeed, at one time, there remember for the rest of their lives. were few stars bigger than Costner. He said to them ‘When you’re my age, Fast forward to 2015 in an era where you’re going to look back on this, your heroism is reserved for comic book rst movie. You’ll never forget it. It’s superheroes, the idea of a middle- a very special time,’” she says. “I was aged white guy in California’s Central very moved by his care and attention Valley inspiring a group of Hispanic to those kids throughout the shoot- kids, the sons of migrant workers, to ing process. The bond between them run competitive cross-country and on screen is completely authentic.” eventually win nine state champion- ships may seem a tad quaint even if it OSTNER TURNED is true. But that is the premise behind on Jan. 18, and on Jan. McFarland, released February 20th. 15, he was presented Set in the 1980s, I ask Costner why with the Critics’ Choice he chose to portray coach Jim White. Lifetime Achievement “That it was true. You wouldn’t want CAward. He gave an emotional accept- to make that sort of story up. It seems ance speech, thanking everyone from “I didn’t buy into just unbelievable,” he says. “I just thought the writers to craft service people, that it was remarkable that a man proving once more his genuine de- could go in there, not know the lan- cency. And on Feb. 2, he was pre- the dream. I bought guage and not know his own place in sented with the Movies for Grownups the world really – and these young Career Achievement Award given by into it’s going to kids and the prospects for them aren’t AARP at its 14th Annual Movies for nearly as glowing as for other people. Grownups Awards. Two Lifetime take work”
And they somehow come together Achievement awards in a row is TK CREDIT PHOTO
60 61 “Doing the right thing when a big deal, so ask him how he feels do Bodyguard 3 or 4,’ but that’s busi- ‘When is she going to start dancing?’ about being a man of a certain age. ness advice. That’s not chasing your So I have the confusion every man “I have no thoughts about it,” he heart. That’s trying to keep your star has with his daughters, all of them.” it’s the hardest is the closest says. “I’ve enjoyed my life. I really bright and making your pile grow His eldest daughter, Annie, 30, bought into the idea that you could be bigger. And there’s nothing wrong works with him at his oil and water measure to who you are” whatever you wanted to be. My par- with that, but that’s not my way. I business, while daughter Lily, 28, is ents told me I could. But they backed know how to do that, but it doesn’t a singer-songwriter and performs a up that thought with, ‘You’re going feel heroic,” he laughs. He plans to song onscreen in the funeral scene in to have to work for it. You’re going to direct another Western (it will be Black or White. She was also his date probably fail. And if you fail, you still the rst time sitting in the director’s on the red carpet in Rome where the know you want to do something. Are chair since The Postman), telling lm was screened. you going to try to correct or change me, “I’d like to get on a horse again.” your behaviour in order to make Not surprisingly, Costner is a man of OR ME, life is a col- something happen?’ And I bought many passions – another of which is laboration, and you into that, too. I didn’t buy into just the music. He is the lead singer and plays have to lead with dream. I bought into it’s going to take guitar with his country/rock band, a vision,” Costner work. I’ve had good luck in my life Kevin Costner & Modern West, play- “ tells me. That sort of and I like the idea of working for it.” ing and touring the world (including thinking F goes a long way on a mov- But what about the myriad articles Canada) since 2007 and they record- ie set whether you’re the lead or the and discussions about the dearth ed their rst album Untold Truths in director or both. But it’s a philosophy of movie roles for women over 40, 2008. “Music is a professional ven- that has been put to good use at Water let alone 60, in Hollywood? Has he ture. It’s just not something I go out Planet Engineering, a company whose found it dicult to nd good parts? and promote,” he says. “I didn’t know high-tech machinery helped clean up His answer is an emphatic no. “But it would turn into something as big the ecological disaster that was the I’ve certainly seen some roles I can’t as it’s turned into. We could probably Deepwater Horizon oil spill o the play anymore!” he says and laughs. play 200 or 300 times a year. We’re coast of Louisiana in 2010. Costner “It’s really amazing that I’m asked to asked to play that much, but I play 35 has always advocated for the environ- be leads in movies, and I’m 60 years times a year maybe, and that’s a lot.” ment, even making it the subject of old. I’m really grateful for that. I like His biggest priority, however, is his his 1995 lm Waterworld. In order to to think that that is based on my family. He has seven children ranging make his passion for clean water a re- past. I try to t myself into movies. I in age from 30 to four. The three eld- ality, he has surrounded himself with don’t try to jam myself into movies.” est – Annie, Lily and Joe – are from top scientic minds in the eld. Costner is also famous in Hollywood his rst marriage to college sweet- “I’m kind of the economic engine to for never doing a sequel, despite hav- heart Cindy Silva. Then came an- say, ‘Why can’t we x this?’ ” he says. ing had many opportunities to do so. other son, Liam, with ex-girlfriend “So I have to go get really smart people It’s a choice that many actors would Bridget Rooney. The youngest three because I can’t. I don’t know how. But I not have turned down, but for him, it are with his wife of 10 years, Christine do know how to support people and I wasn’t an option. “I haven’t built my Baumgartner, and include two sons, know how to go after my dreams and, career on trying to make the same Cayden and Hayes, and a daughter if I’m not smart enough to do them, movie four times, ve times. And I’m named Grace. I ask him if it is di- then I’ll go get people who are.” not saying that’s bad. I’m just saying cult balancing work with family. The company has been doing work from a business standpoint maybe “I don’t have to balance. They are all over the world, and we may hear I’m wrong. Maybe I should have done the most important,” he says. “But as about them closer to home. “We’ve that, made Bull Durham 3 and 4,” he a provider, I have to go to work. My been to the Alberta tar sands and will explains. “Those are good what you great joy is them.” He pauses a mo- eventually be doing work in Canada,” call feathernests to go back into if, ment, then laughs. “My [youngest] Costner says. “It’s our business to say, your last movie doesn’t work on daughter wants to do ballet, but she’s gure out how to deal with water in a some level, even though you might more interested in buying all the more eective, smart and conserva- be really proud of it. Let’s say it’s The dresses. She’s four, and I say, ‘You tive way, and that’s my promise.” Postman [the 1997 post-apocalyptic have to dance, too,’ but she’s more And we know that when Kevin tale he directed didn’t work at the in love with the dresses and she has, Costner makes a promise, he intends box oce]. ‘Ooh, boy, I better go and like, six dresses now. So I’m like, to keep it.
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