Kevin Costner Says Movie Setback Turned Him Into a 'Little Baby'
It's no secret that Kevin Costner is all-in on his western epic, Horizon, which he's co-writing, directing and starring in. But did you know that he's "build a suspension bridge" committed?
The Yellowstone star gave an interview to local Utah outlet St. George News this week, revealing that he recently faced a production hiccup when his first choice of filming location for a particular scene fell apart. The problem? The area was going to flood due to record snowfall in nearby mountains.
“Every day, my dream was to film at this other place. We even built a suspension bridge,” Costner said. “And we were going to crane our wagons 50 feet in the air over the river, drop them down on that location. So I had it on my head, we built it, we had the cranes out there. And then the big snowpack came. And everybody said, ‘The water’s gonna come up.’”
Unfortunately, Costner's suspension bridge was no match for Mother Nature. “It broke my heart because losing my location turns me into a baby a little bit because I have my mind set on what it’s going to look like and how people will enjoy it,” he said.
Eventually, the multi-hyphenate star found a new spot he could make do with, also on the Shivwits Band of Paiutes reservation in Southern Utah.
“It’s a good lesson for everybody," he told St. George News. "Sometimes you just have to let some things go."
Costner's commitment to his four-part movie is apparently a key reason he and Yellowstone producers, including creator Taylor Sheridan, started butting heads. Costner had reportedly asked to work fewer days on the Paramount+ series in order to focus on his first directorial effort in 20 years; and Sheridan, who's in charge of approximately one million shows, is pretty busy himself. Scheduling conflicts were inevitable.
Related: Taylor Sheridan's Ever-Expanding Universe! A Guide to His Many TV Shows and Movies
“My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct," Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in a wide-ranging interview. "He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did.”
After months of behind-the-scenes tension, Paramount+ announced in May that the show would end with the back half of Season 5.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Season 5 of Yellowstone
“My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan told THR. “...He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it. His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it—and that it’s a good one."
Keep calling in the cranes, Costner! It seems you've got a lot to prove.
Next, Find Out Kevin Costner's Net Worth and How Much He Made for Yellowstone