Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson team up in the Netflix film, The Highwaymen. It tells the story of two former Texas Rangers who came together to bring down Bonnie and Clyde.

Kevin was offered the role of Frank Hamer ten years ago, he initially said no to the part. “I guess it didn’t seem like it fit.”, he explains.  “I could get over that wall pretty easy. I still could get over it but I had to play a character who couldn’t. And ten years ago it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to pull that off.”

Netflix
Kevin has been vocal in the past that he finds opening weekends at the box office tough, so how does he feel about this film opening on Netflix? “I think these kind of movies, because we know what our younger audiences are flocking to see, and probably a movie about two aging guys, Texas Rangers, hunting down Bonnie and Clyde – I think that the general consensus was that this was not that kind of movie that could have one of those big weekends. So, that’s the beauty of Netflix, of what’s happened, because now this movie’s made. (In the past) people would have been weighing it (the pros and cons) … and that doesn’t happen so now a lot of movies are finding their way.

The Every Day Super Hero
Kevin has spent much of his career playing characters who save the day, that has had an impact on his personal life, with many people expecting him to step in when danger is present in every day life. “People assign a lot to you. Unnaturally but they do it. I’ve been aware of the power of movies and I’ve been able to be a part of movies that hopefully people will be able to continue to watch and share.”

Career
One thing that Kevin is pleased about when it comes to his career is “that my career hasn’t spiralled down to one movie. You know, that’s when someone comes up to you and it’s always one movie. That would have disappointed me. When someone comes up to me, it’s one of 10 or 12 movies that someone might mention and I like that because it means they’re speaking to different people.”

What’s his own favourite one? “I don’t have that. The minute I have one I disown the other children.”

Sequels
Kevin is one of few Hollywood actors who has never made a sequel. Has this been a conscious decisions? “No, no, I want to make a bunch of money”, he jokes.

He goes on to add, “What happens is that I really respect the movies I did and if the sequel is not as good I won’t do it … I need to see the script, because if someone like The Bodyguard and I make The Bodyguard 2, or Tin Cup 2or Bull Durham 2 or Dances With Wolves 2 and 3, and they’re not as good, then it’s going to bother me. That’s probably not great business advice – someone would say, ‘Do it. Do the second one, do the third one – are you nuts?!’ I guess probably I am.”

He does have a sequel in mind though, but in typical Costner style, there’s nothing small about this. He says, “There’s a Western I want to do – it’s four parts. All the same story and people are going, ‘Oh Kevin, why?’. And I go, ‘it’s a sequel’. And they go, ‘But what if the first one doesn’t work?’ and I go, ‘The first one is going to be great’. And so now when I talk about doing sequels they say, ‘Oh no, you can’t do it that way’.”

Romantic
Even after all these years in the movie business, Kevin is still in love with it.”I am a romantic about it (the movies) I understand what’s problematic about our business, I get that perfectly, but I still love the idea of a story you’ve never heard – let me tell you one, and when you get to the end you go that was the best story!”

The Highwaymen lands on Netflix on Friday 29th March 2019.