Kevin Costner 'selfishly' gave 'Horizon' role to 15-year-old son: 'It was a smaller part'
Kevin Costner shared a special moment with his 15-year-old son after giving him a "smaller part" in his film "Horizon."
Hayes Costner was cast as Nathaniel Kittredge in the opening of Costner's four-part Civil War-era Western. His father admitted he "selfishly" gave his son a role and opened up about the time they spent together filming in a new interview.
"He's a beautiful boy, and he's quiet," Costner said during an appearance on "Today." "And I have not shoved my children into the business. I realize there are so many young actors out there that would just kill to be in this movie. And I don't want to take those parts away from them just cause I can place my own children in."
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Hayes' role only required around two weeks of filming, according to Costner.
"But, in a sense, it was a smaller part," Costner continued. "I selfishly wanted him with me for the week, two weeks, he was with me. And we would drive to the set every day and he would whisper. He didn't have a lot of experience, but he's really beautiful in the movie."
"It's a really complicated scene," he explained.
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Costner's role in "Yellowstone" came to an end as he chose to focus on "Horizon" due to alleged scheduling issues and other drama. The actor revealed the concerns that pushed him away from fans' favorite character, John Dutton.
"Number one, I did it for five years, okay? And I want to work more than once a year," Costner explained to Savannah Guthrie. "And we lost an entire year at one point, and I thought, 'well, that can't ever happen again.' It was well over a year, and I said well ... I just have to be in position to make the things."
"There's a chance to do both of them ... but material has to be ready at certain times," he added. "And we weren't able to do that. And after five years, I'm just not going to do this."
Costner explained "there's always a chance" he'll return to "Yellowstone."
"It's been really important to me," Costner said. "I would love to go back under the right circumstances – I think that all of us want ... at this point. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances."
Fox News Digital was in the courtroom where Costner hinted at a possible legal showdown over money he is owed from his time on "Yellowstone" while fighting over child support payments with ex-wife Christine Baumgartner. Before a judge ruled in favor of the actor in September over monthly child custody payments, Costner testified in depth about the drama surrounding "Yellowstone" season 5.
"We did negotiate," he explained in the courtroom. "There were issues about creative. I tried to break the log jam. They walked away."
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Costner seemingly had issues with the timing of filming "Yellowstone" as he wanted to focus on his latest project, "Horizon." At the time, the first movie in the four-part saga was in postproduction, a "critical" time for putting things together.
"Somewhere along the line they wanted to change things," he said of the "Yellowstone" filming process. "They wanted to do 5A and 5B… affected ‘Horizon.’ I was going to do my movie ‘Horizon’ and leave that show, do my movie, then do B. A show I was only doing once a year I was now doing twice."
Costner explained that he had been offered $24 million to do season five, six and seven of "Yellowstone," before scheduling broke down, and the show was canceled.
"I will probably go to court over it," Costner responded when asked by his ex-wife's lawyer if he had received a payout from the latest seasons of "Yellowstone."
Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright contributed to this report.