I’ll preface this one with the full disclosure that I’m not a fan of this guy, so it’s amazing to see that Kevin Costner’s been on quite a roll lately with roles.
First he’s gonna play Superman’s earth father in Man of Steel, now he’s onboard for Quentin Tarantino’s next, Django Unchained.
I always found Costner marginally talented at best, and the good films he was in, like Bull Durham, were good in spite of him, not because he was a particularly good or convincing actor.
Not to mention when he won Best Picture and Best Director for Dances With Wolves (over GoodFellas!), his ego grew to the point where it couldn’t be measured with existing technology.
A lot of people thought the disaster of Waterworld would be the end of his career, but it was actually The Postman that was the bigger implosion, just no one was paying as much attention to it.
Costner hasn’t been seen or heard from much lately, so all this recent activity is surprising for a middle aged former A-lister who hasn’t had a hit movie in God knows how long.
According to Deadline, Costner will play a character in Django who trains slaves to fight each other, a role that could “shine a light on him the way that Pulp Fiction did for John Travolta.”
Whether Costner can actually have a comeback like Travolta, who was pretty much over the hill and gone before Pulp Fiction brought him back, remains to be seen.
Starring in a Tarantino film isn’t always a career cure-all. Pam Grier unfortunately didn’t have a big comeback from being in Jackie Brown, although it certainly brought more visibility to Robert Forester, who put in a terrific performance.
Nor did Kill Bill bring the late David Carradine back from direct to DVD movies or really boost anyone else’s career, although Christoph Waltz certainly did very well from Inglorious Basterds, winning the film’s only Academy Award.
Costner will be starring with Jamie Foxx, who will play the title role of Django, Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Django Unchained is currently scheduled for a Christmas 2012 release via Sony and The Weinstein Company.
