{"id":689790,"date":"2026-07-13T19:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689790\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T19:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:02:11","slug":"the-1995-ron-howard-movie-kevin-costner-refused-to-star-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689790\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1995 Ron Howard movie Kevin Costner refused to star in"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Stills<\/p>\n

Mon 13 July 2026 17:15, UK <\/p>\n

Few figures in Hollywood are quite as universally beloved as Ron Howard<\/a>. The filmmaker and actor has managed to maintain a 60-plus-year career, all the while attracting an impressively small number of detractors, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean every actor is desperate to work alongside him.<\/p>\n

There are some figures in Hollywood for whom certain actors would drop everything to work with; people whose calls you simply don\u2019t ignore and whose scripts you covet even being considered for. Howard, you might assume, is among those people, given just how many incredible, enduring, and award-winning projects he has been involved in over the years. While there is undoubtedly a plethora of performers who would give their right arm to work with Howard, Kevin Costner is not one of them. <\/p>\n

A ubiquitous name within the Hollywood realm, Costner simply cannot accept every role that is presented to him, particularly back in the mid-1990s when his prolific output was arguably at its peak. Nevertheless, you would perhaps assume that an offer from Ron Howard to star in his upcoming Apollo 13 project would rise to the top of the pile. <\/p>\n

Especially since the pair had already worked together, with Costner making some brief appearances in Howard\u2019s 1982 comedy Night Shift<\/a>, during the early days of Howard\u2019s filmmaking career. <\/p>\n

Costner was an early contender to play the role that Tom Hanks eventually ended up aceing in that classic blockbuster. Seemingly, though, Costner was only ever considered because of the real-life Apollo astronaut that Hanks\u2019 character was based on. \u201cJim Lovell really wanted Kevin Costner to play him,\u201d Howard revealed in an interview with People Magazine<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCostner looked a little like him,\u201d the filmmaker continued, \u201cand Costner was just absolutely on fire. Dances with Wolves was the biggest thing.\u201d Nevertheless, the actor wasn\u2019t quick to jump at the chance, leaving Lovell rather disappointed that he wasn\u2019t going to be portrayed by one of the most popular men in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

\u201cCostner wasn\u2019t interested, wasn\u2019t available\u2026 It was sort of a non-starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Howard<\/p>\n

Luckily, Howard found a similarly beloved actor at the top of their game, in the form of Hanks, whose portrayal of Lovell remains one of the defining performances of his extensive and illustrious career in cinema. In the wake of its smash-hit success, Apollo 13 attracted nine Academy Award nominations, of which it won two. <\/p>\n

Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/p>\n

In contrast, the film that Costner ended up starring in instead, 1995\u2019s Waterworld, saw him nominated for a Razzie for \u2018Worst Actor\u2019, and the film itself was further nominated for \u2018Worst Director\u2019 and \u2018Worst Picture\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the grand scheme of things, it is fair to say that Costner made a regrettable decision in turning down Howard and Apollo 13, given the strength of that particular project, particularly in comparison to Costner\u2019s output at the time. <\/p>\n

Then again, it is difficult to imagine anybody other than Tom Hanks taking on that role<\/a>, given just how legendary a performance he gave. Despite Lovell\u2019s disappointment, then, perhaps Kevin Costner\u2019s inability or lack of motivation to appear in the film all worked out for the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Stills Mon 13 July 2026 17:15, UK Few figures in Hollywood are quite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[32677,228869,229827,29409,96,22725,2839,35692,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-689790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-1990s","tag-228869","tag-adventure-movies","tag-apollo-13","tag-entertainment","tag-kevin-costner","tag-movies","tag-ron-howard","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}