Why Kevin Costner hates the western genre
Too often forgotten in the world of Hollywood cinema, actor Kevin Costner was one of the shining lights of the American industry in the late 20th century, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro. A celebrated star of the silver screen, Costner has won two Oscars for his contributions to cinema, with both coming for his 1991 ‘Best Picture’ winner Dances with Wolves.
Rising to fame in the 1980s, Costner found early success with such films as Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill and Kevin Reynolds’ Fandango before he would enjoy his first major hit in the form of 1987’s Brian de Palma flick The Untouchables. Appearing as the American Prohibition agent Elliot Ness, who helped to bring down Al Capone, Costner gave one of his all-time best performances.
But, first and foremost, Costner became known for his work in the western genre, with one of his earliest successes coming in the form of 1985’s Silverado, released shortly before he would gain seven Academy Awards for 1990’s Dances with Wolves. This would be followed up by two other films in the genre in the same decade: 1993’s A Perfect World and 1994’s Wyatt Earp.
Yet, even though the movie helped to make Costner such a success, he has admitted that he’s not a huge fan of the genre on the whole.
Sitting down with Good Morning America back in 2019, the actor and director boldly stated: “[western] have to be literate. It’s too much black hat, white hat…I won’t tolerate bad language, meaning literacy of a western on TV or in film. I hate it. I don’t like it when it’s dumb because there’s such great opportunity because the architecture of a western should be to actually frighten you sitting in the dark, watching something. ‘That could have just happened to me. And I don’t know what I would’ve done’”.
Continuing, Costner adds: “America was a wide-open place, and violence was random. And when you really invest in the writing to actually make that a character, the randomness, and it can be really scary to be out there by yourself, to be a decent man and come across psychopaths”.
Take a look at the full interview between Costner and Good Morning America below.
