Kevin Costner has been one of Hollywood’s most popular stars since the 1980s, thanks to the success of such box-office hits as “The Bodyguard,” “Bull Durham,” “JFK,” “Field of Dreams” and more. During the course of those decades, he’s experienced some extreme highs (winning the best picture and best actor honors for his 1990 classic “Dances with Wolves”) and lows (including his notorious 1995 bomb “Waterworld,” and, more recently, his headline-making second divorce), yet remains popular with fans. That’s demonstrated by the success of his hit series “Yellowstone.” The 2022 season premiere attracted more than 12 million viewers, becoming the most-watched episode of scripted television that season — a particularly significant feat given that it aired on a cable channel, Paramount, and not one of the major networks. “We’ve been able to create a show that didn’t start out being popular but did it on its own terms,” Costner told The Associated Press of the series that resurrected his career and spawned several spinoffs.
Yet there’s another side of Costner that isn’t seen on film and television screens. Over the years, there have been consistent reports about his prickly personality, and claims that’s he’s difficult to work with. Not surprisingly, there have been those who haven’t gotten along with Costner, some of whom have come forward to share their alleged experiences with him. Find out what they’ve had to say by reading on for a look at some celebs who can’t stand Kevin Costner.
His Yellowstone exit ‘disappointed’ series creator Taylor Sheridan
As the popularity of “Yellowstone” continued to build from season to season, Kevin Costner became one of television’s highest-paid actors, raking in a reported $1.3 million per episode. That made it all the more shocking when he quit the show, reportedly over scheduling issues involving his big-screen passion project, “Horizon: An American Saga.” “We tried to negotiate, they offered me less money than previous seasons, there were issues with the creative …” Costner said during testimony during his divorce trial, reported People.
This understandably led to tension with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan. Interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan shared his mixed feelings about Costner, and the actor’s controversial exit from the show. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone,” he said. “But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting … I’m disappointed.”
As for how he planned to address the character’s exit in the show — which will end after its fifth season — Sheridan insisted his highest priority was serving the storyline. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling,” he stated.
Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone co-stars are giving him ‘the cold shoulder’
For an actor, becoming part of a television series as successful as “Yellowstone” is like winning the lottery. Keeping that in mind, how do the other members of the cast feel about Costner’s departure, which ultimately led to the cancellation of the show that paid their salaries?
According to a report from Life & Style, Costner’s former co-stars are not thrilled about his exit, and the fallout from it. According to an anonymous source, they’re through with him. “He used to hear from Cole [Hauser] and the rest of the gang — but they’ve cut him loose in the months since he walked away from the show,” the source alleged. “They’re making no effort to see him and don’t get excited when he calls. They’ve drifted away.”
As the outlet pointed out, Costner had become accustomed to hearing the “Yellowstone” cast share their effusive admiration during interviews. Those days, the source claimed, are now long gone. “After all that praise, you can imagine Kevin being a little hurt by their rejection,” added the source. “He’s getting the cold shoulder treatment. It’s a kick in the teeth!”
Madonna dissed him on-camera in Truth or Dare
One of Kevin Costner’s most memorable onscreen appearances wasn’t in one of his movie’s, but in the 1981 documentary “Madonna: Truth or Dare.” In the infamous scene, Costner — rocking a mullet — popped backstage to greet Madonna after her concert, which he described as “neat” while speaking with her. “No one’s ever described it quite that way,” Madonna responded, clearly miffed. When Costner informed her he wouldn’t be attending the afterparty, she sweetly replied, “Not neat enough for you?” After Costner exited, she mimed sticking her finger down her throat to induce vomiting, and then mused, “Neat? Anybody who says my show is neat has to go.”
Years later, Costner admitted he’d felt wounded when he saw Madonna’s reaction in the documentary. “Yeah, I was embarrassed by it and kind of hurt by it,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2007. “I just went back there because I was asked to go back. And I found the best word that I could.”
Despite Madonna’s diss, he and his daughters subsequently took in one of her concerts. During the show, he said in that interview, Madonna told the crowd that she wanted to offer an apology to Costner. “Ninety-eight percent of that audience didn’t know what she was talking about. But I really respected that … Whatever possessed her, whatever was inside her, she came to her own decision. And a bigger thing came out of some kind of humiliation.”
His clashes with director Kevin Reynolds cratered their friendship
One of Kevin Costner’s biggest blockbusters was 1991’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds, who gave Costner his big break by casting him in his 1985 film “Fandango,” with the men going on to become good friends. During production of “Robin Hood,” however there were reports that the two Kevins squabbled over, among other things, Costner’s dodgy accent — which, despite portraying a legendary British folk hero, was more L.A. than Nottingham.
When the two re-teamed for “Waterworld,” the tensions between the two that were evident while making “Robin Hood” eventually boiled over. When Costner began to meddle in Reynolds’ troubled movie as the $100-million budget swelled to a reported $175 million, the relationship frayed and then snapped. Reynolds eventually walked off the film, telling Entertainment Weekly, “In the future Costner should only appear in pictures he directs himself. That way he can always be working with his favorite actor and his favorite director.” In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, Reynolds shared more details of their dispute. “We had discussions, then arguments, and then a falling out,” he explained.
The two men were able to bury the hatchet when they worked together in the 2012 TV miniseries “Hatfields & McCoys,” with the pair ironically ending their own lengthy feud in order to dramatize what was arguably the most notorious feud in history.
He ticked off Universal Pictures co-chair Stacey Snider
Kevin Costner played a Major League Baseball pitcher in the 1999 drama “For the Love of the Game,” directed by Sam Raimi. While promoting the movie prior to the its release, Costner chose to publicly diss it. An issue was some racy dialogue that was cut in order for the film to maintain a PG-13 rating, thus increasing its potential at the box office. Costner, however, viewed the cuts as compromising the film’s artistic integrity, and accused the studio that produced the movie, Universal Pictures, of selling out.
“For Universal, this movie has always been about the length and the rating,” he said in a 1999 interview with Newsweek. “It’s never been about the content. You feel a studio would want to release the best version of the movie, not the one they think appeals to the biggest common denominator … The love of the movies, I believe, is waning [in Hollywood].”
Costner’s words rankled Stacey Snider, who was then co-chair of Universal Pictures, and apparently the target of the actor’s ire. “Kevin’s not the director and it’s not fair for him to hijack a $50-million asset,” Snider sniped to the Los Angeles Times. “I realize this is very much about principle for Kevin, but principle doesn’t mean that you never compromise. Our feeling is that we have backed the filmmaker and his name is Sam Raimi, not Kevin Costner.”
He evicted tech titan Daniel Starr from his guesthouse
One of the odd tidbits of information to emerge from Kevin Costner’s contentious split from ex-wife Christine Baumgartner (their divorce was finalized in Feburary 2024), involved a guy staying in the guesthouse of their California mansion. Shortly after Baumgartner filed for divorce, The Sun reported that Costner had an angry confrontation with tech mogul Daniel Starr, who was renting the guesthouse for $60,000 per month. According to the report, Starr and Baumgartner had become particularly friendly while Costner was away filming, until something led to a rift in the relationship and Baumgartner requested that he leave. “But there was a fallout and Kevin got wind of it. There was a row between him and Daniel and things escalated from there,” a source told the outlet.
Starr, who’d signed a year-long lease, eventually left three months before his lease ended — and reportedly got his lawyer involved, although it wasn’t clear whether a lawsuit had been launched.
TMZ caught up with Starr, who insisted there was nothing improper going on between him and Baumgartner. “Absolutely not,” he said when asked if they’d had an affair (via People). “I just was a tenant; I have my own relationships. [It was] nothing else.”
Stephen Baldwin claimed Kevin Costner swindled him out of millions
Kevin Costner has never appeared onscreen with Stephen Baldwin, but they did face off against each other (via their lawyers, that is) in a New Orleans courtroom.
Their dispute had nothing to do with Hollywood, but an innovative technology that Costner had developed during the 1990s to clean up offshore oil spills. In 2011, Baldwin and his business partner, Spyridon Contogouri, sued Costner and his partners in what had been dubbed “the Costner solution.” In the suit, Baldwin and his partner demanded $17 million over their allegations that they’d been duped into selling their shares in the company, Ocean Therapies Solutions, before British Petroleum agreed to the $52-million purchase of 32 of the devices to clean up BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While Costner contended they weren’t entitled to anything since they’d sold their shares before the BP deal went through, Baldwin claimed that Costner had lied about his conversations with the oil company in advance of the deal. The jury ultimately sided with Costner, awarding Baldwin and Contogouri absolutely nothing. For Costner, the win vindicated his reputation. “My name means more to me than money,” he told reporters after the verdict, reported Reuters. “That’s why we wanted to get to the truth of this.” After losing, Baldwin offered his own theory about why the jury sided with Costner. “The bigger star won,” he griped.
Sam Elliott was not a fan of Costner’s Yellowstone
Among his vast body of screen work, veteran film and TV actor Sam Elliott appeared in “1883,” the first (but certainly not last) spinoff of “Yellowstone,” following the exploits of the forebears of Kevin Costner’s character, John Dutton.
Interestingly, Elliott admitted he did not appreciate the original show that spawned his spinoff. “We’re tainted by ‘Yellowstone,’ which, on some level, I can’t stand,” Elliott said during an interview with Taste of Country while promoting “1883.”
Elliott shared similar sentiments while appearing on comedian Mar Maron’s “WTF” podcast (via Today), “I’m not a ‘Yellowstone’ fan. I don’t watch ‘Yellowstone,'” Elliott declared, taking care to point out that, despite his antipathy, he held the show’s star in high esteem. “I love Kevin Costner. There’s a lot of good people on the cast, a few of them I’ve worked with before. Nothing against any of them, but it’s just too much like f***ing ‘Dallas’ or something, for me,” he added, comparing “Yellowstone” to a long-running primetime soap opera from the 1980s.