The star Kevin Costner called a “world class” actor
Being a bankable movie star and a world-class actor aren’t mutually exclusive, and while Kevin Costner definitely spent many years as the former, he’s never been considered among the latter.
That’s not to say he’s a bad actor despite his three Golden Rasberry Award wins in that very category, but he’s never been renowned for his range. Costner is very good in certain roles; it just so happens that those roles aren’t too far away from his real-life persona.
His one Academy Award nomination for acting came in a western when he steered Dances with Wolves to ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ glory; his solitary Primetime Emmy win came in western miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, while his two Golden Globes for his on-screen efforts came from the aforementioned Old West tale and Yellowstone, which is pretty much a modern western.
Costner has become virtually synonymous with the western; his most ambitious undertakings have also been westerns in one way or another, and all of his major acting gongs have come in westerns. Funnily enough, he’s loved the genre since he was a kid, and it’s been a mutually beneficial partnership to have unfolded over a number of years.
The star’s best work – which also extends to No Way Out, The Untouchables, Bull Durham, and Field of Dreams – are all highly Costner-esque performances in their own way. Versatility has never been the strongest weapon in his arsenal, but that doesn’t automatically disqualify him from naming one of his peers as taking pride of place among the finest thespians on the planet.
Having first shared the screen as a married couple in Zack Snyder’s blockbuster comic book adaptation Man of Steel, Costner and Diane Lane would reunite seven years later in writer and director Thomas Bezucha’s 2020 feature Let Him Go. The former gave one of his finest turns in years, so it obviously goes without saying the film is a neo-western.
Once again cast as spouses, retired sheriff George Blackledge and his wife Margaret set out from their ranch in Montana to make a trip across state lines to rescue their young grandson from the family of their former daughter-in-law’s new beau. Already devastated by the loss of their only son in a freak accident, the couple won’t sit idly by and let their grandson’s life be ruined by his new clan.
A character-driven drama that didn’t get the recognition it deserved by releasing at a time when the theatrical industry was in a state of disarray, Costner and Lane are both in top form. He more than holds his own, but as he explained to Brian Tallerico, the two-hander only works if both appendages are firing on all cylinders.
“What happened is you need a world-class actress to take on a role like this,” he said of Lane’s vengeful and grieving grandma. “Listen, she’s still an incredibly beautiful woman who kind of plays this grandmother who is relentless. You can even be mad at her for being that. She took it all on. She’s really one of the great American actresses we have.”
Costner might hold up his end of the bargain, but his performance isn’t even one of Let Him Go‘s top two. The battle for supremacy comes down to a close call between Lane’s tour-de-force and Lesley Manville, cast deliciously against type as a trailer trash matriarch with a mean streak a mile wide, but they’re both equally excellent and blow the leading man clear off the screen.
