Kevin Costner wishes he was a better actor in one of his films

In early 1987, Kevin Costner was known as the cocky gunslinger Jake Lawrence Kasdan’s western romp “Silverado.” This was a good role for the director, who had taken Costner out of The Big Chill because his portrayal of the deceased Alex had not gone down well with test audiences; Basically, the cast did such a great job of building Alex’s importance that even the then-unknown Costner couldn’t live up to the level of legend. Although it was a nice gesture on Kasdan’s part, “Silverado” did not ignite at the box office in the summer of 1985.

So when Costner got the plum role Who played Eliot Ness in Brian De Palma’s 1987 gangster film “The Untouchables,” Paramount Pictures mounted a publicity campaign to sell the charismatic 32-year-old actor as a big movie star who had finally arrived. Costner, decked out in fine Giorgio Armani threads and armed with David Mamet’s sharp dialogue, was essentially practicing his hitting with a Flynn bat. How could he not rise to full-blown movie stardom with Ness and De Palma behind the camera, and Sean Connery and Robert De Niro as his antagonist?

Most people will tell you that Costner performed as expected, but will counter that he could have done better. How is that? By bringing to his role the one thing his co-stars had that he lacked: experience.

In a 2024 interview with GQ With the release of his unfinished Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga,” Costner spoke candidly about the making of “The Untouchables.” While the film is an unquestioned classic, grossing $76 million in the US (good enough for sixth place at the 1987 box office), Costner believes he brought a knife to a gunfight.

“The Untouchables was a really well-written script,” Costner said. “David Mamet had written an absolutely perfect script, so I wanted to be a part of it. Brian De Palma directed it, and of course Sean Connery was in it, you know, Robert De Niro, and it was a good movie.” moment for me to be in this movie.” It was a good moment, but it wasn’t the right time for Costner. “I actually didn’t think Sean was the type who would like me,” he said. “I don’t know why, but he did. He was good to me. I learned a lot because my eyes were open. I wish I was a better actor when I did The Untouchables but I was where I was. “.

Some critics were harsh on Costner in 1987. Written by Roger Ebert“The script doesn’t give him, nor does Costner, any of the little twists and turns in character that might have made Ness an individual.” I don’t agree with this. Everything we know about Ness’s life after Prohibition (e.g. that he became a barely employable drunkard) is of no value in De Palma’s film. History in general has no purchase. Do you think Ness led a raid on the Canadian border with the Montes? Pure imagination. De Palma and Mamet’s Ness is a Boy Scout because that’s what this gangster movie demands. Costner stars and directs. If he had been more confident, he could have doubted De Palma as he did other directors, and things could have gone badly. De Palma got it just in timeCostner was the right kind of naive. And here, says Sean Connery’s Malone, the lesson concludes.