One of the legal filings Christine Baumgartner made amid her divorce from Kevin Costner last summer was a request for more info on Costner’s finances with regards to a multi-film project, Horizon, for which he essentially mortgaged their Carpinteria mansion. The request didn’t really go anywhere, in fact it was shortly after that the exes settled. Now an audience at Cannes will get to judge whether the movie was worth the farm, er, mansion. Horizon: An American Saga, will premiere the first film (of a planned four in total) at the festival. So Deadline has a new in-depth interview with Costner… where he spent a good chunk of the time lamenting the way the Yellowstone PR team maligned him in the press.
His kids insisted he put up the house to make Horizon! My kids might not get the 10 acres [the waterfront Santa Barbara property Costner put at risk]. But they’re going to have homes, and they’re going to have my legacy and the wealth that follows, from my estate. They can make up their own lives. But I’m not going to let anything hold me back. … Mine are so clear about it. Dad, you do what you want to do. We don’t need all these things. We’ve enjoyed all these things, but we don’t need them. They just don’t want to see me just work myself to death.
He’s been waiting for Horizon promotion… to clap back about Yellowstone: I have taken a beating from those f*cking guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. … I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy [Taylor Sheridan] was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me. You asked me the question, I’m going to answer it. I don’t do press outside my movies. … They should have known that there was going to be an opportunity for me to say something. I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.
And now we’re talking about Ahab and Moby Dick: I first saw obsession in my life when I saw Moby Dick with Gregory Peck. … He was willing to take men down. And the difference with Francis [Ford Coppola] is, and difference with me is, we may have a bit of Ahab in us, but our obsession isn’t such that we would take other people down. We put ourselves on the line, we shoulder it all. Other people get paid. For me, it’ll be two or three years without a salary from Horizon. Try it, see how it feels. … Try doing that, with a lot of money going out. He’s not crying to anybody. I’m not crying to anybody. But if you think it’s easy, try it.
Yellowstone season five (Kevin’s version): I didn’t shoot 5B. There was no script. And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of this behind-the-scenes drama] for a year and a half. I left my movie to be on time for them for 5B. I left exactly when they wanted, and it made it hard on me. It turns out they didn’t have the scripts for 5B. They needed four more days just to complete the first eight episodes. I left early to give them what they needed to have a complete eight, and I felt bad that the audience didn’t get 10. They didn’t have the scripts for anything else. So, what you read in the end was that I said, “Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.” I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.
Here’s the thing, Costner could be right about how things went down with Yellowstone. I would never, ever underestimate the maneuverings of a network hit show’s PR machine. And we know that Taylor Sheridan is spread thin at Paramount, albeit by his own making (he’s the only one who can do all the writing!). That being said, the way Costner lays out his account is a bit more confusing than vindicating. We the public weren’t in the weeds with him during all the contract negotiations and filming delays, so a lot of the details flew right over my head. Plus it’s all an unnecessary distraction from the whole reason he’s doing an interview to begin with — to promote his passion project! Just hype your movie, Kevin! Look towards your Horizon! (Sorry, not sorry.)
Photos credit: The Daily Stardust / BACKGRID, IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
Divorce aside, I always had a soft spot for Costner and love watching Yellowstone with my husband. I believe him on how things went down, but I also think that it’s a clash of two big egos with him and Sheridan. Would love to see his story on Yellowstone wrap properly.
@LM … “Divorce aside, I always had a soft spot for Costner …” Me, too! And I have to say that I ‘still’ think he’s one of the sexiest men walking the planet.
Jennifer Lopez and Kevin Costner need to get together. The “I, I, I, me, me, me” synergies are there.
I believe he’s dating Jewel right now! But he and J. Lo do make sense together.
Yeah, try financing a project and not taking a salary for 2 1/2 years, he say?
Sure Kev, I’ll do it, if you first hand all your accumulated cash, other wealth, property, contacts, credit lines, other resources over to me. I bet I’d coast through just fine, and won’t waste time whining through press calls about how I’m independently wealthy enough to do WTF ever I please whenever TF I please.
Sounds like most male white movie producers in Hollywood. Arrogant and entitled.
He strikes me as someone who is hyper-controlled in everything he does and a workaholic. If what he said is true, it does sound maddening for him to come back for the show and then wait around a week while he could have been filming his movie. I think the show took a gamble bad-mouthing him, maybe figured they could get away with it because he already looked like a total jerk with the divorce.
I agree with this assessment.
I can’t imagine having his level of wealth and success and still being such a whiner.
Having the nerve to say to a reporter–somebody who works for wages–‘try going without a salary for a year’–is mind-boggling tone-deaf. I cannot imagine anything associated with his kind of life.
Kevin costner has a reputation for being hard to work with- I believe that.
Pot…kettle. And so many salty tears from all these entitled men. It is pathetic for all involved.
I don’t know about him as a human, but that man is perfection on screen. I love him.
Not looking at Costner’s private life, I am a fan of him in his movies. I really like his movies. I got my best pasta sauce from the movie Three Days to Kill. I love the Criminal. The previews for Horizon look stunning: you don’t see cinematography like that anymore. It is beautiful, and because of that, I am willing to go to a movie theater to see it. (Don’t go much anymore). I can see it on my computer. Now I must go, I have to see the last installment of “A Gentleman in Moscow”. I think he has given a lot to the world of film. And I can usually rely on a film he is in to be good.
Kevin Costner seems like kind of an awful guy in real life. But I have to say he has demonstrated a heck of a lot of chemistry with his onscreen costars.
Sean Young in No Way Out. Very steamy. Bull Durham with Susan Sarandon. Tin Cup with Rene Russo—one of my favorites because he looked so comfortable and at ease lounging around with her.
He just looks remarkably at ease and natural as a romantic lead. I think it stands out because a lot of actors seem uncomfortable being affectionate and/or passionate but Costner seems to demonstrate a physical connection that I find appealing.
That doesn’t make him a good guy but it makes him enjoyable onscreen.