Kevin Costner

Interview By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

Many people would define success in Hollywood by the amount of money you make as well as what you bring creatively to the table. Fortunately, not every Hollywood actor embraces that model and Kevin Costner is one of those actors.

Heavily involved not just acting, but often producing and directing such successes as Dances With Wolves and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and unfortunate failures such as Waterworld and The Postman, Kevin Costner is definitely an actor who shows there's more to doing studio film than purely for the profit-based accolades.

He chooses his works clearly first and foremost as a reflection of what he can get out of it as an actor seeking to ever refine and hone his craft as well show the audience the beauty and glory of the human spirit. That grand tradition that Costner always manages to carry so well continues into his latest film, the new Andrew Davis-directed action/drama <The Guardian, which opens September 29, 2006 in theatres.

In the movie, he plays Ben Randall, a troubled Coast Guard rescue swimmer who becomes a mentor and later partner to cast mate Ashton Kutcher as Jake Fischer. Playing the part of such a heroic character is nothing new for Kevin Costner and that was not lost on him. But he points out very much that it's a theme that has always been important to him and he strived hard to offer such a seemingly par-for-the-course role with enough vigor to make it impact the audience.

'Heroism is always going to be the staple of movies that travel throughout the world as something we recognize and something, in the dark, we admire and also wonder if you're really being honest with yourself, will I do that'' Costner explains, 'It's interesting how movies make us measure ourselves. We're not as brave or as smart as some of the people we play. We get to do that. There's nothing new in our movie. What we are is a part of a staple of movies that comes before us and comes after us. We think it's good. What we try to do is in a real familiar movie, touch you and that was our hope. We swam like hell and tried like hell to put something forth in an original way. It's neat to be in a movie that deals with self-sacrifice and heroic ideas.'

As always, Costner learned a lot. His role as a Coast Guard swimmer led him to realize a lot of things he hadn't before about the organization itself.

'I think we learned a lot,' Kevin notes, 'They just go out when the conditions are the worst. I didn't think we realized how many people are dedicated to this idea. They're kind of a peaceful organization and they're thrust in the middle of really violent situations and it's always nice in the fact that they are there to save people. It's interesting the guys and women that end up doing it. It's really about a mental approach. It's not about your size. It's your heart. And so you look at a person and you may look at them and might not be that impressed, but that's the person you want coming to save you. That's kind of startling and refreshing in a way.'

The now 51 year-old Kevin enjoyed working with the burgeoning talent of Ashton. He felt that his 28 year-old co-star was equally vital to the movie's shape as he was.

'I knew that I couldn't be good unless Ashton was good,' Costner notes, 'It didn't make any sense if I'm good and Ashton's not or if Ashton's good and I'm not. And so, we have an artistic approach and professional approach with our business. We also understand a bigger picture. And when you get off on an individual thing, make no mistake, we had to prepare individually, but we knew that our greatest chance was to be a team together. He was my partner. And there was only one logical role for me to play in this movie and there was only one logical role for Ashton. And I feel good about our professional timing in our careers.'

Kevin also mentions that playing the role of a teacher to Ashton Kutcher's character deeply resonated in particular with him.

'I've had coaches in my life and different kinds,' Costner points out, 'The best ones were the kinds that treated me like an individual. There's cases where in the movie or even situations where we talk to people, 'Don't be late, because we're going to be over there. If you're not, you're not going to get there.' There's another kind of voice that says, like in our instance, 'Hey, man, you got a lot going on for yourself.' And it's a different voice and the best teachers are the ones that understand that they got to use different voices in order to get through a message.'

Despite Costner's last experience with water threatening to leave his career waterlogged in his 1996 big-budget sci-fi debacle Waterworld, Kevin had much reason to end up saying yes rather than no.

'I have spent an inordinate time with water in my career, but I saw that,' Costner admits, 'We want to be that guy that we think that we'll go save. There's a moment when Jake jumps out of the helicopter where if you really look closely, you can see a smile will creep across his face. It was a good cinematic moment. I didn't choose it because of the water. I almost didn't do it because of the water. But I thought it has mythic quality and I thought, 'There'll be movies like this before us and there'll be movies like this after us.' And if we want to have a complete filmography, we're going to be in a movie like this and dance with the genres out there. We're going to really have complete careers.'

Kevin also mentions that playing the role of a teacher in particular deeply resonated with him.

Costner also points out the most subtle places an act like heroism that his and Kutcher's characters display in The Guardian can be.

'Heroism in the movies can be the smallest thing,' Costner mentions, 'Heroism exists all around us. What makes a hero is when fear steps aside and professionalism takes over. They do their job and do what they're trained to do. If you ask them how they got to that point, if you step back from it intellectually, they might not have done that. In all righteousness, they don't take credit for it. Something takes over.'

Kevin Costner puts a lot of great care into making his movies worthwhile, but is just as quick to show the importance of a movie as a part of his personal experience. 'The movie is satisfying on a lot of levels, but there's a thing that occurs outside the movies, which is life,' Kevin notes, 'Sometimes, those things are just as enjoyable to develop relationships and to know that we got through a tough day. It might be committed to film, but we know what that day was about. Those things are measuring sticks for me because if I live with what a movie does on opening weekend, I'm going to have a totally unsatisfactory career. For me, it's a bit of false god and a bit of a trap. I have a lot of highlights that you'll never see and a lot of it is very personal.'

As Costner goes on to make what will likely be a successful film, he still has the desire to pursue alternative cinematic projects and stresses the importance of always taking risks even with such a harrowing, yet exciting career of high and lows.

'I think I'm going to direct again, probably another cowboy movie,' he notes, 'But I actually think the business should let a first-time director have final cut because maybe we stand a chance to learn something from them. I think too many voices are silenced because they're coming at something from a different perspective. In a lot of times, I'd like to see a director's voice be heard completely on his first movie. There's a thing out there that's an enemy of the movies, that is conventional wisdom. What if everybody is wrong' And that is where it exists and its fresh air.'