Kevin Costner 'Excluded' After Unlikely Request While Taking Cocaine

Kevin Costner has said that he felt "excluded" after he made an unusual request to one of his colleagues when they were doing cocaine together.

The Hollywood actor is on the promotion trail for his new movie, Horizon: An American Saga, which he plans to release in four parts. Chapter 1 is set to hit theaters on June 28, while Chapter 2 will follow on August 16.

Appearing on an episode of the Armchair Experts podcast on Monday, hosted by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, Costner went into detail about being offered cocaine while he was working on film sets at the beginning of his Hollywood career. Newsweek emailed Costner's publicist for comment on Tuesday.

The actor told the hosts he was hired as a stage manager at Raleigh Studios, helping produce commercials and low-budget projects while pursuing his acting career. After assisting a group of electricians on a production, Costner said that they offered him cocaine to show their appreciation.

"At one point, they take me back into the grip room and say, 'Here,' and they put out a little line of coke. And they say, 'Thank you for all the s*** you're doing for us,'" he added.

Costner said that, while he tried the drug, he quickly realized it wasn't for him, and his primary focus at the time was to try to save for his first home.

"So, I do that and nothing, and I do it a second time and I do it a third time," Costner said. "And finally I said to them, 'Hey, look, how much is that?' And he says, 'That's about $20 right there,' and I said, 'Can I say something to you?' And he says, 'Yeah, f***, of course, man, what?'

"And I said, 'Look, I'm trying to buy my first house,' and I said, 'If you think what I'm doing's cool, I could use $20. I could take a twenty. And I was out of the club immediately."

Costner's request for payment over substance-based remuneration did not go well, and his connection with the grips ended as quickly as it began.

"I saw myself excluded because I didn't want to do this. It was kind of lucky for me that I didn't like coke. There was nothing there for me," Costner said.

The Oscar-winner didn't know at the time that success was right around the corner. He managed to land leading roles in The Untouchables (1987), Bull Durham (1988), and Field of Dreams (1989).

He made his directorial debut in 1990 with the film Dances With Wolves, in which he also starred. It went on to win Best Picture and Best Director at the 1991 Academy Awards.

Horizon: An American Saga is the first project Costner has directed since Open Range in 2003, which was also a Western.

In an interview with Variety in June 2022, the actor said that the Horizon films are separate stories that interlink. Set during the settlement of America's Western frontier, the films span a 15-year period that covers before and after the Civil War.

"You're watching a saga of these storylines that are happening," Costner told the publication.

Horizon will focus on both settler groups and the Native Americans that call the land their home—themes that are similar to that of the TV series Yellowstone and its prequels 1883 and 1923.

"It's a really beautiful story; it's a hard story," Costner said. "It really involves a lot of women, to be honest. There are a lot of men in it, too, but the women are really strong in Horizon. It's just them trying to get by every day in a world that was impossibly tough."

Many have believed that the Western project played a role in the sudden end of the fan-favorite show, Yellowstone, in which Costner starred. Paramount said Costner refused to shoot more episodes, but the actor has rubbished this claim. He said that the studio wanted to alter his contract because show creator Taylor Sheridan was delayed in writing the script.

"There was no script. And then things imploded. You've been reading one version [of the show's drama] for a year and a half," Costner told Deadline.

"I have taken a beating from those f****** guys and I know a lot of times where it's coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong."

Newsweek emailed Paramount for comment on Tuesday.