Kevin Costner’s Unexpected Horror Role: “I Wanted to Torture Him”
Despite a Hollywood career spanning decades and a level of success many leading men only dream of, Kevin Costner’s insistence on investing his own money into his projects may have held him back from reaching even greater heights.
It’s a complex question. The first time Costner dipped into his own pocket to finance a film, the gamble paid off spectacularly. Dances with Wolves earned him two Academy Awards and became the highest-grossing Western ever made.
However, that kind of success proved elusive in his subsequent self-funded efforts. Waterworld eventually turned a profit thanks to TV syndication and merchandising, but it was a rocky road. Meanwhile, The Postman bombed so badly it sidelined Costner from mainstream Hollywood for nearly two decades and earned him every Razzie Award it was nominated for.
Still undeterred, Costner again invested heavily in Swing Vote and Black or White, but neither movie came close to recouping their costs. Then there’s Horizon, which has stalled indefinitely, with the ambitious multi-film saga seemingly doomed after the second installment.
By the late 2000s, Costner’s career was at a low point, largely due to these financial gambles. It was during this period that he agreed to star in his first—and so far only—horror movie: Luis Berdejo’s supernatural thriller The New Daughter. With Costner’s star power combined with the director of Rec, expectations were cautiously optimistic. Unfortunately, the final product failed to deliver.
Berdejo later revealed in an interview with Screen Anarchy how excited he was to work with Costner. “I told him I’d be nervous for a few days, but I was the happiest man alive to share that experience with him,” Berdejo said. “And I wanted to torture him as much as I could.”
Those words turned out to be prophetic—though not quite as intended. The New Daughter follows every horror cliché imaginable: divorced father? Check. Writer? Check. Moving to a creepy old house with his kids? Check. Strange noises ignored by others? Check. An ancient evil lurking in the walls? Check.
Costner himself seemed completely disengaged, sleepwalking through the role more convincingly than his onscreen daughter, who even had a sleepwalking scene. Throughout the entire 108 minutes, he never once showed anything other than sheer apathy.
Ultimately, Costner’s only horror outing was a failure. The New Daughter was met with indifference, grossed less than $600,000 worldwide, and didn’t even get a theatrical release in the U.S., going straight to video instead. In the end, Berdejo got his wish—Costner was indeed “tortured,” just not in the way the director had hoped.
