As the saying goes, ‘every great man is inspired by another great man to reach their full potential’. Well, this sentiment could not ring truer than in the case of Gene Hackman & Kevin Costner.
For the most part, viewers recognized Costner from the hit drama series Yellowstone, but he was popular throughout the 1990s for other roles as well. Beginning his career as an extra in low-budget productions, he progressed to more mainstream roles in acclaimed flicks, including Dances with Wolves and No Way Out.
Besides, he has shown a tremendous amount of endurance. Costner got up and over the critically panned films Waterworld and The Postman, which could have easily ended his career. And later, he spellbound audiences once again with his exceptional Yellowstone performance on the Paramount Network.
In a nutshell, moreover, Costner seems to be saving not just the Yellowstone ranch but also his fellow co-star’s acting career. How? The Academy Award-winning star, 69, has helped Hackman rediscover his love for acting following their collaboration on the 1987 film No Way Out.
Kevin Costner’s Effect on Gene Hackman’s Acting Renaissance
Gene Hackman, the retired actor known for his powerful performances in films such as Mississippi Burning and Unforgiven, was at a crossroads in his career. The spark that had once fueled his love of acting had faded, and he found himself questioning his passion for the acting profession. That was until Kevin Costner entered his life, as both collaborated on Roger Donaldson’s No Way Out.
During a conversation with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Cosnter shared an insightful conversation he had with Hackman while filming the film. The Postman director shared:
“So, I’m walking out to my car and Gene’s walking out to his car, and Gene says, ‘Hey, can I talk to you?’ [Hackman] said, ‘You know, I watched you today and I’ve gone through a divorce not three years ago, and I’ve been doing a lot of shitty movies and I’ve been trying to pay for this divorce and didn’t feel about acting the way I’ve felt, you know for a long time. [But] I watched you today. I used to feel like that. And I was really happy to see you do that.’”
No Way Out is regarded by critics as one of Costner’s best non-Western movies. With a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has won the hearts of viewers, for sure. Subsequently, Costner said that Hackman entered his vehicle and left, adding:
“It was an important moment for me because I had been thinking about this script a lot. Maybe more than people that were making it. And it was a moment where I thought [Gene] was going to hand me my head and I was gonna just listen to it. But he didn’t, no. He went to that place that was respectful to me, and I never forgot it.”
Based on Kenneth Fearing’s 1946 novel of the same name, the film also starred Will Patton, Sean Young, Howard Duff, George Dzundza, Jason Bernard, Fred Thompson, and Iman.
Horizon: An American Saga: Kevin Costner’s Impact on the Rebirth of Epic Westerns
With the release of the Taylor Sheridan cable drama Yellowstone in 2018, Kevin Costner triumphantly returned to the Western genre. Following a difficult beginning, reruns and streaming helped the show gain popularity. However, following almost five seasons on the neo-Western, Costner has returned to the big screen, helming Horizon: An American Saga, his forthcoming flick.
With two distinct ‘chapters’ coming out this summer, this feature film series seeks to revive the Western epic in theaters. But what impact will this film have on the genre moving forward, and how will Costner’s subsequent success or failure affect viewers’ interest?
Taking such a risk means that the consequences could push the genre back another ten years if Horizon fails. Dr. Andrew Patrick Nelson, chair of the Department of Film & Media Arts at the University of Utah and a film historian, stated (via The Times):
“[If this flops] I have a very difficult time believing that any studio would look at making a big-screen, big-budget, wide-release western for five or ten years. Would it kill the western? Absolutely not. But this is potentially a fork in the trail for the western’s history.”
Well, who else could bring the classic American Western epic back if Kevin Costner couldn’t? After all, the Yellowstone star undoubtedly holds the directing and acting skills necessary to make Horizon: An American Saga succeed.
No Way Out is streaming on FuboTV.
