The one movie Kevin Costner knew was doomed: “I will get the blame if the film fails”
Kevin Costner‘s undying love of the Western genre is well known, with the actor devoting most of his working life to stories of dusty cowboys and desert dramas, with a few other roles interspersed between. Whether it be his iconic portrayal of the titular corpse in The Big Chill, Lieutenant Dunbar in Dances with Wolves or his leading role in Yellowstone, the actor has forged a dynamic career on the silver screen, later expanding his love for the medium to the director’s chair. However, while he has experienced huge commercial success throughout his career, there was one fateful project that nearly destroyed his career.
There have been many films over the years that have gained notoriety through egregiously high budgets and low levels of box office success, with the likes of Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate going down in history for losing extortionate amounts of money as cataclysmic flops. While it is perhaps easy to detach ourselves from the people behind these projects and the disappointment of working on something that isn’t met kindly, this is not something that Costner could do after producing Waterworld, which became renowned for being one of the most expensive movies ever made.
Waterworld, directed by Kevin Reynolds in 1995, is set in a futuristic world in which the ice caps have melted and made Earth a liquid planet, with a barmaid rescuing a seafarer from a floating island prison. The pair of them escape but soon become the target of a pirate who wants the map to Dryland that is tattooed on her back. Starring Costner and Dennis Hopper, the film became renowned for its extensive production costs and critical obliteration, with the audiences in 1995 critiquing its rip-off of Mad Max and absurdist storyline.
However, while cinematic flops are not always catastrophic for the filmmakers involved, this instance had quite the effect on Costner. The production destroyed his long-time friendship with Reynolds as well as his marriage, and the actor later described it as one of the most tumultuous and devastating experiences of his life.
When discussing this, Costner explained how these early production challenges led him to feel immense pressure for the film to succeed, saying, “I know I will get the blame if the film fails . . . And, if the film succeeds, which I believe it will, the credit will be split. And that’s as it should be. A great many people worked on the film, and credit should go to Kevin Reynolds, who made a lot of fine things happen.”
However, these were Costner’s famous last words. Before they began shooting, the production went over budget by $65 million. The budget continued ballooning every day and became so high that it was impossible to recoup, especially with a half-baked story and most of the film being shot on open water, something that has famously only caused problems for other filmmakers.
Eventually, Costner found his own way of distancing himself from the failure of the film, saying, “I got through it, yeah… There will be a time when I’ll just talk about Waterworld at a bar over a beer. I really like the movie, flaws or not… If everyone wants to distance themselves from the film, fine.”
