Kevin Costner’s passion for Western projects goes back decades when the actor picked one for his feature directorial debut in 1990. Costner starred, directed, and produced the epic Western film, Dances with Wolves. Costner had the nerves on the first day of the shoot like any debut director and things went a little sideways for the Yellowstone actor.
However, he quickly recovered from the embarrassing moment and saved his face in front of his crew. Dances with Wolves went on to win seven Oscar wins including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner, becoming the first of only four Westerns to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Kevin Costner Had To Save His Face On The First Day of Filming Dances with Wolves
Kevin Costner was so confident in Dances with Wolves that he was unwilling to change a thing in the movie despite three directors rejecting it. However, his confidence did face one or two challenges while filming the movie. During his first day as a debut director, the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves actor made an embarrassing mistake.
Costner appeared in a Role Recall interview with Yahoo! and shared this first-day experience. Costner admitted that he was nervous about helming a movie for the first time. He recalled that he set up his very first shot wrong on Day 1 and was embarrassed about it.
He shared that it was one of the shots that he was supposed to get right and prove to the crew that he knew what he was doing. The Man of Steel actor shared during the Role Recall interview (via Yahoo! Entertainment):
I was nervous enough being a director on it. And I remember the very first day, the very first shot I set up was even wrong. That’s the shot you’re supposed to get right, the first shot, because the whole crew’s watching you. Like, ‘Does he know what he’s doing?’
Costner further shared that he didn’t know whether to admit his mistake or just go along with the mistake and shoot it wrong. However, he decided to correct his mistake and asked the crew to film the shot from the beginning. Costner’s initial trouble lasted only for a few days and he could ease into his job once he saw the unedited dailies. He shared:
I went, ‘This looks like a movie.’ I was desperately hoping that it would. I don’t know, I had never done one.
It didn’t just look like a movie, but it became one of the best Western films ever made. The film collected $424.2 million at the box office against a budget of $22 million (via Box Office Mojo). It became the fourth highest-grossing film in 1990.
Kevin Costner Did Not Listen To The Skepticism For His Film
Kevin Costner received skepticism and negativity from multiple directors for his film. Many directors compared it to the failed 1980 Western film, Heaven’s Gate. Costner shared in an interview with Deadline that these people called his project “Kevin’s Gate”. He shared that these directors had no idea that he had put all his money into this project. Costner shared with Deadline:
I know when I was making Dances with Wolves, they were calling it ‘Kevin’s Gate,’ even though they didn’t know that I put all my money into this thing. I actually asked three other directors to direct it before me.
Costner also added that each director wanted to enforce their vision for the film upon him. One director wanted him to get rid of the Civil War sequence in the film while another shared that the White ethnic girl was a cliché in the film. However, the JFK actor stuck to his guns about his movie.
Dances with Wolves is now available for streaming on MGM+.
