Kevin Costner & Jeff Kurkjian
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00:00Hi, I'm Jeff Kirkshin from 92.5 XTU with Kevin Costner.
00:04And Kevin, I want to talk about family today,
00:07because I know how important your family is to you.
00:09This movie features your son, Hayes.
00:12How cool was that, being able to work with him?
00:15Yeah, no, you know, families came west, you know,
00:19and they struggled together,
00:21and the whole idea was to make life better for them.
00:24And then their life, if you're talking a 200, 300-year jog, slog,
00:31out there in the West, was to make it better for theirs.
00:33And this is, I had a chance to have my son in the movie,
00:38and he's in a very powerful scene that happens.
00:42And you see the promise of life,
00:44and you see the suddenness of what can happen.
00:48How full circle is this for you?
00:50Because you've put your parents in movies,
00:53and now you've put your son in a movie.
00:56Is that pretty neat to be able to do both?
00:57Well, I make sure that they're not taking parts away from people
01:00whose biggest desire in the world is to be in movies.
01:03Right.
01:04I want to expose my children like anybody does to their father's work,
01:08and if that's interesting to them, they can decide that or not.
01:11But sometimes a part was such that I could have him out
01:14and be with me for a week.
01:16But he'll have an impact the rest of his life.
01:18He'll live forever at his age in this movie now.
01:21So he's a handsome young man.
01:24He'll be a handsome man, and he'll have children,
01:28and they'll go back, and they'll see him at this point.
01:31And we'll always be connected.
01:34You know, my greatest joy,
01:36I'm a country radio music host here in Philadelphia,
01:38but my dad is actually ESPN's Tim Kirkshin.
01:42So he's dedicated his entire life to covering the game of baseball.
01:45And just this season, we started a podcast together
01:48to talk baseball every single week.
01:51And the greatest joy of my career as a son
01:53is being able to work with him.
01:55So I can only imagine how Hayes is feeling,
01:57being able to see Dad on set and being directed by his dad.
02:02There was no, like, butting heads, right?
02:04He followed directions well.
02:05Yeah, and I wasn't easy on him.
02:07Right.
02:07Santa told me.
02:08She goes, you weren't easy on him.
02:10And I said, I know.
02:11It was a forever moment.
02:13You know, he's not a trained actor,
02:16but I just worked with him.
02:18And, you know, that's what I did.
02:22Talk a little bit more about the moment you had
02:25screening the film at the music festival.
02:28Yeah.
02:28And how incredible that standing ovation was.
02:32You were drawn to tears.
02:33Have you ever had a moment in your career quite like this?
02:36Because this project, this is huge.
02:39You are so emotionally involved in this.
02:41Have you ever experienced anything like this in your career?
02:44No.
02:44It was bigger than I could have imagined.
02:48And, you know, my eyes filled.
02:50They were, I, you know, got something in them.
02:55I don't know what happened.
02:56But I just tried to hold on and take in the moment,
03:02understand what this journey has been about for me,
03:04this life in the movies and my friends who supported me
03:08and my family and my children were there.
03:10And they saw this thing happening and it was interesting.
03:16I know you're a ball player and you love baseball.
03:18Is this a similar feeling to one would have
03:20in the bottom of the ninth inning hitting a home run?
03:23I mean, I can't liken it to anything.
03:24I've never had that opportunity.
03:26But that must, it must have felt like
03:27all of this culmination of work just finally gets released.
03:31You, you, you, you, you know, I, I make these on purpose for people.
03:36Right.
03:37So I wanted them to enjoy it.
03:38Will they?
03:39I, you know, you can't ever speak to that.
03:41But for people to rally around this Western and say,
03:44it's more than a Western.
03:46It's a journey, you know, and, and people are getting that,
03:50you know, and people are buying into it.
03:54In fact, they're buying the second ticket for the one in August.
03:58I think they're doing that now because they see how connected the movies are.
04:04And it's refreshing too, because this is a movie that,
04:06that needs to be seen on the big screen because of how beautiful the setting is.
04:10It's absolutely stunning and spectacular.
04:13Your love of Westerns has.
04:14Well, when did it kick off for you?
04:16So you're watching it in the dark.
04:17So you're watching, okay, I've got to see a movie.
04:19That's Western.
04:19Okay.
04:20So now you're watching it in the dark.
04:21And the first image is an anthole.
04:23So when did it kick off for you?
04:25I really think the first wide shot of just true Western America, right,
04:30where you, you get the mountains and that's when I,
04:33when you can be converted into a space and forget where you are, right?
04:38Like I love watching movies on planes.
04:40So you started leaning in.
04:41You start to really lean in and you forget where you are, right?
04:43If you can forget where you are and,
04:45and your movie trans, just transports people to a different place.
04:50And I, I think that's beautiful.
04:51And, and these Westerns that you grew up loving, you finally,
04:55with your production and you've been a part of so many great films,
04:58but how cool is it to now go full circle from growing up loving Westerns to now
05:02making a modern day Western about such an incredible time in America?
05:05Yeah.
05:05I know there's somebody just like me sitting in a chair when his feet were so
05:09short, they still can't even touch the ground.
05:11And, and, and, you know, this may have an R on it,
05:14but it's really the kind of movie on a father's day that I think fathers are
05:18going to want to take their sons and take their daughters and mothers want to
05:23take, I think it's a family movie.
05:26You have to understand the pain that went with settling America,
05:30but also the nobility and the courage, you know,
05:33and the humanity, you know,
05:35and the struggle that native Americans had.
05:37But it's like we don't want to shield them from this, you know,
05:42I don't shirk from the violence, but I also,
05:45there's also humanity in it.
05:47There's a reality to it that everybody needs to be educated on.
05:51There's this huge cast that you get to work with.
05:53And I know as a director and a producer, you don't want to play favorites,
05:56but for people who go see the movie,
05:58is there one performance from one actor or actress that you say,
06:01just keep your eyes a little bit on this character.
06:04I can say four people.
06:05You keep, you can keep your eyes on Sienna Miller,
06:07and you keep your eyes on Ella Hunt and Abby Lee and Jenna Malone.
06:11And, and, um, and Isabel there,
06:14but they all become stronger and stronger if they're,
06:17if they're not killed.
06:18Right.
06:19And that's the worry about movies like this,
06:22but they're the acting parts, you know,
06:24and, and, and Luke Wilson is so great.
06:26He's fantastic.
06:27And, and Michael Rooker, you know, um, the, the Irish sergeant.
06:32Yeah.
06:33You know, it's like, yeah, it, the acting roles are superb.
06:37Mm-hmm.
06:38I want to ask one last question about John Debney, right?
06:42Who does the music.
06:43He did The Greatest Showman, which is one of my favorite movies.
06:46How cool is that to have a guy who does a musical like that, right?
06:50To can do the music for what he's doing here.
06:52Listen, we went to Scotland.
06:53We had a 92 piece orchestra and he just, he just kicked it, man.
06:58And, and that, that, yeah, when you see him playing, it's just,
07:02this is not synthesized.
07:03This is straight up orchestra.
07:05And you can feel that, you know, as, as a radio host,
07:07you know, the difference between live music and recording.
07:10No, we're going back to Scotland.
07:12We're recording now again, four times.
07:15Well, Kevin Costner, thank you so, so much.
07:18It was a pleasure to interview you on a quick personal note.
07:21My dad and I, the first movie he ever showed me when I was old enough
07:24to have any understanding of anything was Field of Dreams.
07:26Yeah.
07:27It's my favorite movie of all time.
07:29It's not just my favorite.
07:30Well, now you've got to return the favor to him on dad's day.
07:33You need to take him to the theater.
07:35Has he seen this?
07:36I, no, not yet.
07:37Funny enough, we were recording our podcast together and I, I, I said,
07:40I got the screener coming up and he said, ah, he's going to London
07:43to do the London series with the Phillies and the Mets.
07:45So he wasn't able to.
07:46Well, that, yeah, it doesn't matter, but he'll see it on the big screen.
07:49Absolutely.
07:50Even better on a big screen.
07:51You take him, you take him to that.
07:52We'll take him.
07:53Kevin Costner, thank you so much for your time.
07:54All right, a lot of extra butter, right?
07:56Yep.