“Under no circumstances was he constantly randy”: the bizarre way Kevin Costner predicted his own downfall
Nobody really wants to picture a “constantly randy” Kevin Costner prowling bars and nightclubs in search of a one-night stand, and that included Kevin Costner, but even without the additional notches on his bedpost, he still showed himself to be something of a Nostradamus.
Much like the title of Brian De Palma’s 1987 crime classic, by the start of the following decade, Costner was nigh-on untouchable. He’d bet everything he had and more on Dances with Wolves, and everyone who doubted him was forced to eat their words when it won seven Academy Awards.
However, it set a dangerous precedent. The first-time filmmaker invested millions of his own dollars into the production, refused to compromise, and battled with the studio over its length and content. That was a sign of things to come, and by the end of the 1990s, he was basically finished as an A-list leading man.
What does a fabricated reputation as a mad shagger have to do with any of that? Quite a lot, surprisingly, since Costner had the sneaking suspicion that there was only so long he’d be able to maintain his clean-cut, all-American good guy image before the cracks in the façade were exposed and chipped away.
While shooting Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in England, the star was besieged by women trying to seduce him, hoping to sell the salacious story to a tabloid. Unfortunately for them, he wouldn’t bite. “They are looking for people like Kevin Costner,” one journalist explained at the time. “But under no circumstances was he on the loose, procuring women, constantly randy.”
Still, he was aware of the issue. “Outside the business, it’s more problematical if a beautiful woman approaches me,” he conceded. “I know there are all these stories about how women are throwing themselves at me. When I was making Robin Hood in England, there were these stories in the tabloids about me sleeping with women. They were off-the-wall.”
Even though he wasn’t engaging in multiple extramarital affairs during the production, Costner was nonetheless growing increasingly aware that his image remained in danger. “Let’s face it, the public can only take this good-guy story about me for just so long,” he admitted. “It’s wearing thin. I feel overexposed right now. People say I should shut it down. I can see it coming to an end.”
The star added that he felt that he was “getting pretty close to the saturation point” and that he was edging ever closer “to being what’s not hot,” and he was right. Eight years later, tales of his arrogance, overbearing nature, and refusal to listen to any opinion that wasn’t his own had blighted not only Robin Hood, but Wyatt Earp, Waterworld, The Postman, and For Love of the Game, too.
It may not have had anything to do with his wandering eye or lascivious nature, but Costner was aware that there was a finite shelf life on his time as one of the industry’s top dogs, and once the shine began to come off his public persona as an aw-shucks do-gooder, the fall from grace that followed was one that he never recovered from.
