Kevin Costner: “I’m Not Focused on Hits, So No Flops for Me”

Ask 100 people what defines a flop movie, and 99 of them will say it’s a film that burns through its box office budget, loses money for everyone involved, and leaves a stain on the reputations of the actors and directors. The other one? That’s where Kevin Costner’s perspective stands apart.

With a career spanning over 40 years, marked by soaring successes and notable failures, the two-time Academy Award winner has a deep understanding of Hollywood’s inner workings. Having also produced and directed, Costner has seen the business from many angles.

So, it’s fair to say he knows what a flop looks like. He’s starred in a few himself—some nearly career-ending. Yet, intriguingly, he insists that because he liked these films, they don’t really count as flops, despite all evidence to the contrary.

“I’m not in the hit business,” he says—a statement that isn’t entirely accurate. Films like Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK, Tin Cup, and Bull Durham all brought in solid profits and helped cement his A-list status in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Then there’s The Postman, which needs little introduction, alongside Dragonfly, Wyatt Earp, 3000 Miles to Graceland, and the troubled Horizon project. (As for Waterworld, despite its rocky start, it eventually turned a profit through home video and TV deals.)

“To me, a flop is a bad movie, not one that fails at the box office,” Costner explained, challenging the usual way people judge films by their financial success. “There were five flops this year that will make $80 million each.” While it’s true that poorly made movies can still rake in money, Costner’s real trouble came when his films were both bad and money-losers—hitting both marks that can derail a career.

So, has Costner starred in bad movies? Yes, plenty. Has he been in films that lost huge sums? Also yes, many. But if you asked him, he’d defend The Postman fiercely—because in his eyes, it’s not a bad film.

The counterpoint, of course, is that it most certainly is considered a failure—and it bombed hard enough to nearly ruin his reputation and star power. According to Costner, though, he’s never been in a flop. According to most of the rest of us, that’s a tough sell.