Kevin Costner may have Oscars and accolades from his iconic 40-year Hollywood career, but there’s one real performance that remains unsung.
In 2016 Hidden figuresthe true story of three brilliant black women who contributed to the space race in the 1960s, Costner was cast as NASA bigwig Al Harrison — but it turned out he was ill for much of the shoot.
Very sick.
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“I’ve never worked drunk on set. I’ve never worked on set, but I’ve been on morphine the last two weeks I’ve been working [Hidden Figures]” says the Oscar winner, who is No. 1 on PEOPLE’s annual 100 Reasons to Love America list, in this week’s cover story.
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Jim Parsons, Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Costner in Hidden Figures 2016.
During the filming, he got kidney stones and says that “he worked under an IV for 10 days. I don’t even know how. I was normal for about three days, and then something happened to me.”
Costner, known for his unwavering work ethic, “never missed a day of work,” but says, “I was sitting in my trailer with morphine in my hand.”
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Kevin Costner at home in California on April 10, 2024.
Eric Ray Davidson
Before long, the star had to keep her sleeves rolled up while filming to hide the bruise from the IV drip. “In the end I had to,” he recalls, admitting that the experience was quite painful.
“I wanted to cry, but everyone was watching, so I didn’t.”
Still, Costner, whose epic western Horizon: An American Saga opens this weekend, also has fond memories of the shoot.
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He loved working again with Octavia Spencer, with whom he starred in the 2014 drama. Black or white. Likewise, Costner gives Hidden figures director Theodore Melfi is an ideal collaborator. He says, “It was magic.”
For more of Kevin Costner’s exclusive interview, pick up this week’s PEOPLE magazine, on stands now.
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Source: HIS Education