Suddenly, everyone wants Kevin Costner again. (Except of course Stephen Baldwin, who’s suing him. But that’s another story.) I’m told that Costner is being offered a role in a new film called “The Words,” in which he would play — possibly– the father of Bradley Cooper. Jeremy Irons also co-stars. It’s a very good role, and might be a kind of literary “Field of Dreams.” There are also rumors circulating that Costner is wanted for the next “Superman” movie, maybe to play Clark Kent’s dad. And Costner meanwhile tours with his country rock band; they’re playing at some industry events.
All of this is a good turnaround for an actor who once ruled the world with “Dances with Wolves,” “Bull Durham,” and about a half dozen hits in the 1980s early 90s. But then career disaster struck. Lots of flops followed “Wolves,” its Oscars, and financial windfall. From “Wyatt Earp” to “The War” to the two infamous grand calamities–“Waterworld” and “The Postman.” Hubris did him in.
More recently Costher has been in the news with a device he says can separate oil from sea water. He was going to save the Gulf of Mexicon from BP. But things went awry and now one investor, Stephen Baldwin, the grinning brother of Alec, is suing him. Someone’s going to need a machine to separate fact from fiction.
But Costner the actor was always a cool guy. Even his later releases (he’s only 55, this makes him seem ancient), he’s done okay. He was very good in “The Company Men.” And this fall he says he’s going to shoot a movie with his old pal Kevin Reynolds, who he replaced on “Waterworld” so he could utter this wonderful line to Jeanne Tripplehorn as they descended below the sea, Costner’s gills flapping: “I’ll breathe for you.”
