Clint Eastwood has directed and starred in several films, but he only worked with Kevin Costner on a 1993 thriller because the younger actor rewrote the script. Both Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner are legends of the Western genre, both in front of and behind the camera. Eastwood’s best Westerns include legendary films like the Dollars trilogy and Unforgiven, and he’s also directed hits like Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino. Likewise, Costner has had his fair share of major acting hits like Field of Dreams and JFK, as well as massively successful directorial outings like Dances with Wolves.
Despite their success, Eastwood and Costner only ever appeared in one film together, and it wasn’t even a traditional Western. 1993’s A Perfect World was a crime thriller about an escaped convict who kidnapped a young boy, and it pitted Costner and Eastwood on opposite sides of the law. What’s more interesting than the film’s genre, however, is the fact that Eastwood almost refused to play a part in it at all, and he only took his role because Costner rewrote massive parts of the script.
How & Why Kevin Costner Convinced Clint Eastwood To Star With Him In A Perfect World
Costner Knew Pairing Himself With Eastwood Would Be A Big Marketing Opportunity
The only movie Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood ever worked together on was 1993’s A Perfect World. According to the LA Times, Eastwood agreed to direct the movie after Steven Spielberg turned it down in favor of Jurassic Park, but he only wanted to be behind the camera, not appear as an actor. Eastwood said he had gotten tired of working on both sides of the camera, and wanted to slow down and have less of a “headache” as he got older. Eastwood eventually got Costner to play the role of Butch, but Costner wanted Eastwood to star alongside him.
So, as producer Mark Johnson explained, Costner worked with scriptwriter John Lee Hancock to make Red Garnett into a more appealing character to entice Eastwood to play the part. Hancock also mentioned that Costner seemed to understand just how important seeing himself and Eastwood on-screen together would be for the film’s marketing and chances at success.
“In fact, he sat down with John (Hancock) and worked on the script for a couple of weeks–ironically, not to work on his character, but to work on the character of Red. So, in a sense, he could seduce Clint by giving him more to do.”
Costner and Hancock’s rewrite ended up working, and Eastwood played the part of Red, saying Red “was changed so that he had some vested interest in being there.” Laura Dern’s character, Sally Gerber, also helped sway Eastwood’s decision, as she had a line that revealed Red was looking for redemption. As Eastwood explained, Red’s focus on redemption was a big pull, and he said “I’d rather play that instead of playing a guy who comes in and says, ‘OK, I’ll just shoot him, partner!’ That’s pretty boring. At this stage in my life, I’ve done all that. There are younger guys who can do that.”
A Perfect World Was Considered A Disappointment For Clint Eastwood & Kevin Costner
A Perfect World Was Supposed To Be A Massive Hit, But It Was Just An Average Success
With Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner’s combined talents, A Perfect World turned out to be a modest success. It made $135 million at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo) against a budget of just $30 million, and it earned a respectable 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though A Perfect World was relatively successful, it wasn’t seen as a big enough win for a pairing of legendary actors like Eastwood and Costner. The thriller only made $31 million domestically, and American audiences likely didn’t appreciate its dark subject matter and brooding tone (via New York Times).
Costner and Eastwood’s pairing should have been a recipe for a smash hit, but A Perfect World was only an average success.
Part of the reason A Perfect World’s domestic box office performance was so underwhelming was because of what Eastwood and Costner had been able to achieve just a few years prior. Both of the actors had massively successful solo projects that are considered some of the best Western movies ever made in the early 1990s. Eastwood made Unforgiven in 1992, which earned $101 million domestically, and Costner made Dances With Wolves in 1990, which earned $184 million domestically and $424 million worldwide. Costner and Eastwood’s pairing should have been a recipe for a smash hit, but A Perfect World was only an average success.
Kevin Costner Didn’t Exactly Take The Torch From Clint Eastwood
Costner’s Flops In The 1990s Prevented Him From Filling Eastwood’s Shoes
Not only did A Perfect World fail to be the smash hit it was supposed to be, it also failed to be a passing of the torch. Part of the movie’s allure was supposed to be pairing the legendary Western actor Clint Eastwood with the up-and-coming young Western actor Kevin Costner. It’s possible that Costner wanted A Perfect World to symbolize Eastwood passing the torch to him as the new dominant young actor of the 1990s, but it didn’t manage to accomplish that. Eastwood continued directing and acting for over 30 years, and Costner had a few misfires that kept him from reaching the same legendary status.
In the years following A Perfect World, Kevin Costner made a few massive blunders and created some damaging box office flops. The next year, 1994, he released Wyatt Earp, which was immediately overshadowed by Kurt Russell’s 1993 Western Tombstone. Then, in 1995, Costner made his infamous Waterworld, a movie that is mostly known for how much money it lost in theaters. In 1997, Costner made his second-worst reviewed film, The Postman, which earned only $17 million against an $80 million budget. A Perfect World should have been the start of Costner’s rise to Eastwood’s level of fame, but instead, it was the start of a string of flops.
Though the 1990s was a difficult decade for Kevin Costner, he managed to survive it and continue to have a successful career in the 2000s and later. Some of Kevin Costner’s best movies have come in the first quarter of the 21st century, like Open Range and Molly’s Game, as well as his role as John Dutton in the neo-Western TV show Yellowstone. Still, however, his string of flops kept Costner from taking on Clint Eastwood’s torch as one of the best working actors, even though A Perfect World tried to make it happen.