Kevin Costner is one of the most talented actor-directors in the whole film industry. Having starred and directed one of the most famous Western movies of all time, Dances with Wolves, the Yellowstone star was at the top of his career in the late ’80s and ’90s.
However, the actor hit a new low, both professionally and personally, while shooting the movie Waterworld. Not only did he end up clashing several times with the movie’s director and his long-time collaborator Kevin Reynolds, but he was also going through a brutal $80 million divorce.
When Kevin Costner Clashed with Kevin Reynolds
Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds have had a long history of collaboration. The duo has famously collaborated on movies like The Untouchables, Dances with Wolves, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. However, it was their fourth collaboration that things started to spiral down and their long-term relationship eventually broke up.
The Oscar-winning duo were working on Waterworld, with Costner being the lead and Reynolds being the director. Back in the day, the post-apocalyptic movie was one of the most expensive movies ever to be made with a $175 million budget.
And so, while tensions were naturally high, it was Costner’s repeated attempts at meddling in the film’s production that enraged Reynolds. In an interview, Reynolds stated (via The Sunday Times),
“He asserted himself. We had discussions, then arguments, and then a falling out. It’s not something I want to go into in detail.”
After not being able to stand each other anymore, Reynolds infamously stormed off the sets and declared (via The Sunday Times).
“Now Kevin gets to work with his favorite actor and director.”
Even in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reynolds had similar cruel words to say about Costner. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg for Costner, who was apparently battling a divorce, which greatly affected the movie.
Kevin Costner was Going Through a Divorce while Shooting Waterworld
Kevin Costner was with his first wife Cindy Silva for 16 years and had three children together, yet after Costner’s career took off, their relationship took a toll and ended up in one of the most costliest divorces in the film industry. Costner had to pay Silva $80 million in settlement, an explosive amount for those times (see People).
In an interview with Yahoo!, Waterworld screenwriter, Peter Rader, revealed how much of a struggle it was producing the movie for Costner was also going through a divorce at that time.
“Costner was having to carry the movie, while his marriage was falling apart. I was in peripheral contact with various producers [during production], and they would share stories at various points. I was also reading stuff in the press and it appeared like Costner took over the editing and locked [Reynolds] out. And Kevin [Reynolds] just left Hollywood at that point.”
However, the negative publicity did help the movie and it ended up becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of 1995 although it failed to live up to its budget (via Box Office Mojo). As for the two Kevins, they later reconciled and worked together for the acclaimed miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.
Waterworld can be streamed on Vudu.
