Kevin Costner Was in a Space Movie That Almost Won an Oscar: Remember It?
Everyone might be used to seeing Kevin Costner in cowboy-ish clothes like in Yellowstone, though he once appeared as a completely different character in a 2016 Oscar-nominated drama. Coincidentally, this was also Costner’s hardest role yet.
With a whole collection of Western movies of his own and a leading role in Taylor Sheridan’s genre-shaping TV series Yellowstone, Kevin Costner is likely one of the most recognizable genre vets out there. However, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t turn to completely different roles after all.
Back in 2016, the actor starred as one of the leads in a biographical drama movie that had nothing to do with cowboys or ranches whatsoever.
The film, initially becoming a major box office hit, went on to also turn into one of the frontrunners at the 2017 Oscars ceremony.
Before Becoming John Dutton III, Kevin Costner Was a NASA Manager in ‘Hidden Figures’
- On Rotten Tomatoes, Hidden Figures holds a score of 93% from both critics and viewers
- On IMDb, the movie is rated 7.8/10
Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe, the movie follows three African American women who help NASA achieve a major milestone and launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit, an achievement that shaped the United States’ modern history and became a turning point in the Space Race.
Hidden Figures also stars Kevin Costner in a visible role as Al Harrison, the director of NASA's Space Task Group; initially a fictional character, Harrison is partially inspired by real-life NASA official Robert Gilruth who led the Space Task Group during the early years of the U.S. space program.
Kevin Costner Had Hard Times During ‘Hidden Figures’ Filming
It seems like Kevin Costner learned to overcome hardships during all this time he spent on Western movies’ sets, which is proven by his experience with Hidden Figures.
Back in the day, the actor revealed that he’d had to spend the last two weeks of filming on morphine while trying to battle pain from kidney stones.
“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]. I had kidney stones and I worked 10 days under an [IV] drip. I don't even know how.” I didn’t miss a day of work — I’ve never missed a day of work — and then when I thought I was gonna be off it, a second kidney stone came, which I never had, and I was right back on it. So I sat in my trailer with a morphine drip in my arm. I eventually had to have my sleeves down in the movie as opposed to rolled up because of that. I wanted to cry, but there was everybody watching, so I didn’t”, Costner revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Where to Watch ‘Hidden Figures’?
The movie is available for streaming on Prime Video.
