“Kevin Costner Sought Magic Mushrooms with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Stuntman Before Iconic Swordfight Scene – I Need to See This Now!”
Even though Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves isn’t exactly a standout among the best ’90s movies, it’s definitely one of Kevin Costner’s iconic films from that era. And now, it’s gotten even more fascinating, because I just learned that Costner and one of his stuntmen went on a wild magic mushroom hunt right before filming a sword fight for the 1991 film. Now, I absolutely have to rewatch that scene.
Costner recently shared the hilarious and bizarre story that unfolded between him and a stuntman while the rest of the cast and crew were off at lunch. He explained that the stuntman, who was playing a young boy in the film, casually asked if he wanted to go look for mushrooms in a nearby field—one that actually appears in the movie’s opening credits. The conversation went something like this:
“He was the stunt guy playing the little boy, and he goes, ‘Hey, there’s some magic mushrooms out in this field,’ he goes, ‘You want to go look for them?’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’”
It made me wonder how much downtime exists on movie sets and how people pass it. Foraging for mushrooms is definitely an unexpected choice—though it does remind me of Dazed and Confused when the cast ate mushrooms and hit the gun range. It seems like these kinds of offbeat activities are a rare thing.
The Dances with Wolves star went on to describe their mushroom hunt, mentioning how his stuntman was much better at finding them. After a while, Costner asked, “How are you finding these mushrooms?” and the stuntman replied, “Well, you have to eat one, and it tells you where the rest of them are.”
It’s a pretty goofy exchange that fits the vibe of the mission—though I can’t help but wonder if there were even any mushrooms to begin with.
Then, as Costner realized that he’d soon be filming a sword fight with Alan Rickman, he wisely decided to back out of the mushroom adventure. He recalled thinking, “I’m not eating a mushroom, Nick. We’re having a sword fight, Nick. You’ve eaten some mushrooms? ‘Cause we’re gonna be with swords in about an hour.”
The story worked out in the end, as we’re all learning about it now. But, needless to say, I’m definitely going to rewatch that sword fight scene with this hilarious context in mind.
