“Kevin Costner Opens Up About Filming Hidden Figures While Battling Illness and Using Morphine”

Kevin Costner recently revealed that he was seriously ill while filming Hidden Figures. The 69-year-old Academy Award winner portrayed Al Harrison in Theodore Melfi’s 2016 biographical drama, which highlights the contributions of three African-American mathematicians—played by Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monáe—who were instrumental in NASA’s success during the Space Race in the 1960s.

While shooting the film, Costner developed kidney stones but was determined not to miss a single day of work. The symptoms of kidney stones can include intense stomach and groin pain, fever, sweating, and vomiting.

In an interview with People, Costner shared that he worked for “10 days under an IV drip,” trying to push through his illness to complete his scenes. “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,” he disclosed.

“I don’t even know how I did it,” he recalled. “For about three days, I was normal, and then something changed.” During breaks, he would sit in his trailer with a morphine drip and had to roll down his sleeves to hide bruising from the IV. “Eventually, I had to. I wanted to cry, but there was everyone watching, so I didn’t.” Despite enduring pain throughout filming, Costner described the experience of working with Melfi and Spencer as “magic.”

In related news, Costner also addressed the difficulties of his recent divorce from his wife of 18 years, Christine Baumgartner. “That’s a crushing moment,” he told Gayle King about the split. “It’s powerful. It hurt, but I go forward.” He emphasized that he must continue moving ahead for the sake of his children, stating, “I can’t wilt like a daisy. I have to go forward and keep a special eye on who they are.”