Kevin Costner recalled a not-so-pleasant time on the set of 2016’s Hidden Figures.
Costner played NASA leader Al Harrison and he was very sick at the end of the shoot for the film about three Black women’s contributions to astronaut John Glenn’s trip to space.
‘I’ve never worked drunk on a set. I’ve never worked high on a set, but I was on morphine the last two weeks that I worked on Hidden Figures,’ the Oscar winner, 69, told People.
The Dances With Wolves actor – who has been promoting his western Horizon – developed kidney stones and had to work for ’10 days under an IV drip. I don’t even know how. About three days of it I was normal and then something happened to me,’ he explained.
‘I never missed a day of work,’ the actor known for his work ethic said, however, ‘I sat in my trailer with a morphine drip in my arm.’
Kevin Costner recalled a not-so-pleasant time on the set of 2016’s Hidden Figures
Costner played NASA leader Al Harrison and he was very sick at the end of the shoot for the film about three Black women’s contributions to astronaut John Glenn’s trip to space; pictured in 2024
Eventually, the bruising from the IVs on his arms got so noticeable he had to leave his sleeves rolled down.
‘Eventually I had to have my sleeves down in the movie because of that,’ he recalled, adding that the whole experience was very painful.
‘I wanted to cry, but there was everybody watching, so I didn’t.’
But the star of The Bodyguard also had good memories from the shoot, one of which was working with Octavia Spencer, whom he also worked with on 2014’s Black and White.
Earlier this week, Costner admitted that the themes of the movies he makes appeal more to men during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, per Variety.
‘I make movies for men. That’s what I do. But I won’t make a movie unless I have strong women characters.’
He added: ‘That’s how I’ve conducted my career and I think that’s why I have a good following.’
The Oscar winner is currently promoting his Horizon: An American Saga film and said the planned four-movie epic differs from other Westerns in that its female characters ‘drive the story in every plot line.’
‘I’ve never worked drunk on a set. I’ve never worked high on a set, but I was on morphine the last two weeks that I worked on Hidden Figures,’ the Oscar winner, 69, told People, pictured in 2024
The Dances With Wolves actor developed kidney stones and had to work for ’10 days under an IV drip’
‘I never missed a day of work,’ the actor known for his work ethic said, however, ‘I sat in my trailer with a morphine drip in my arm’; pictured at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
He also said he said he ‘couldn’t conceive of a scene that didn’t involve a woman’ while creating the story.
Horizon follows the stories of multiple characters, including several female ones, during and after the Civil War as they pioneer the American West.
Costner leads the film alongside a diverse ensemble cast featuring actresses Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Isabelle Fuhrman, Abbey Lee, and Ella Hunt.
Opening weekend box office receipts for the film came in at just $12 million on a $100 million budget, $38 million of which was Costner’s own money.
