Numerous Hollywood stars refuse to work with Kevin Costner, claims shocking new expose
He was once the most bankable star in Hollywood, but a series of scandals and alleged poor behaviour has seen Costner black-listed.
Kevin Costner was once one of the most prominent actors in the world, but a series of scandals and poor career choices has seen his star power fall dramatically in recent years.
According to a new expose by Hollywood Reporter, Costner’s behaviour on and off set has seen “a long list” of people in Hollywood who “swear they’ll never work with Costner again”.
And the reasons as to why vary wildly.
He’s been accused of not paying his bills on time. A now-settled lawsuit alleged that at one point, he had hundreds of thousands of unpaid costume fees.
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Costner has also been accused of being loyal only to himself, claims that intensified when he famously sued his longtime friend and producing partner for a whopping $US15 million.
However, it’s Costner’s behaviour on-set that has seen him leave a trail of disgruntled co-stars in his wake.
He famously ignored Steven Spielberg’s advice not to film the notorious flop Waterworld; he’s faced numerous accusations of rewriting scripts without warning, overruling directors and has clashed with the likes of Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell and Yellowstone star Wes Bentley, the latter of whom he almost came to blows with during an on-set incident.
According to reports, Costner, both star and executive producer of Yellowstone at the time, was pushing Bentley to ditch Taylor Sheridan’s script and play a scene his way instead. Bentley refused and told Costner that he had signed up for a Taylor Sheridan show, not a Kevin Costner production, which sparked the star to “lunge” at Bentley.
“Kevin didn’t like that, and he lunged at him,” said the insider. “No fists were thrown, but they were in each other’s faces, pushing and shoving and just getting hot until they had to be separated.”
“The word difficult gets used a lot,” said Rick Nicita, who represented Costner from 2002 to 2008 before Nicita retired from agenting as a partner at CAA (in the 1990s, Costner was represented by Mike Ovitz). “It can mean someone who won’t come out of their trailer, or someone who doesn’t know their lines, or is rude. That’s not Kevin. He wanted what he wanted and knew what he wanted, and if he didn’t get it … well, he was never a great compromiser. It’s a firm belief in himself and a confidence that to some can play as arrogance.”
Costner’s much-maligned passion project, Horizon, lost the stars millions of his own money when it floundered at the box office last year. It performed so poorly that its sequel was ripped from the release schedule, and the two further planned movies were put on hold.
But Costner has refused to let sleeping dogs lie, and his obsession with trying to get the movies financed has led him to become a laughing stock in Hollywood, claim insiders.
“It’s sad, and that’s the only thing I can think of,” a source who’s worked with Costner for over a decade told Hollywood Reporter. “I think he got lost in the ether and to this day, I just don’t get it.”
With his career taking a nosedive, Costner has instead been filling his time - when not getting sued by co-stars - giving paid keynote speeches at bakery and veterinarian conventions.
It’s a far cry from a time when Costner was considered one of the most bankable stars in the movie industry.
Originally published as Numerous Hollywood stars refuse to work with Kevin Costner, claims shocking new expose
