Kevin Costner Still Believes In Waterworld And The Postman
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Kevin Costner is soon going to be in one of the biggest movies of the summer blockbuster season when Man of Steel opens next week. He’ll be playing Jonathan Kent, Clark’s father, but there was a time not too long ago when leading man Costner would have been in line for the role of Supes himself.
For an interview with The Huffington Post, Costner spoke about many of his former roles, including those in Bull Durham and The Untouchables. But he also takes a little time to talk about his biggest and most bloated entries into the science fiction genre: Waterworld and The Postman. Both movies, despite their faults, are still really ambitious and moving pieces of fiction that could probably use some hindsight editing, but they’re nowhere near as bad as the initial critical panning would have had you believe.
For Waterworld, Costner had this to say:
I loved making Waterworld. I like that it’s tied into, you know, where you have to use your wits about you. You’re not able to kind of wink — you’re not able to do that. I like living by your wits…But it stands up as a really exotic, cool movie. I mean, it was flawed — for sure. But, overall, it’s a very inventive, cool movie. It’s pretty robust.
I’ll say. It’s one of those movies that gives full use to every dollar of its inflated budget. It’s strange how this film is still considered an overpriced flop to some people, given just how many movies have exceeded its costs over the past few years with similar returns. I still don’t think a TV series would be all that great.
The Postman was an entirely different beast though, taking viewers into an apocalyptic world that they probably weren’t ready for. I really liked this flick the first time I saw it, understanding that I may not have been part of the majority. Perhaps it would have been better as a video game, where one could skip through all the traveling. Anyway, here’s what Costner had to say about that film possibly doing better with audiences if it were released today.
Well, I always thought it was a really good movie! I always thought I probably started it wrong. I should have said something like ‘once upon a time.’ Because it was just like a modern-day fairy tale — it wraps itself up with a storybook ending with the statue. You know, I thought it was a pretty funny movie set against the idea of a Superman — somebody stepping up. But in this case, it’s a very humble guy whose nothing but a liar [laughs] — delivers mail and burns half of it just to stay alive. So, I like the movie.
You gotta love a guy who can hold his head up high despite popular opinion. Michael Bay could learn something from that.
