Costner opens up about failures and new film

Funny how things change. On a recent swing through San Francisco to promote his new film Open Range, which he directed, produced and stars in, it was the 48-year-old Costner who sounded like the deliberate rebel, albeit one far more tempered than the pop star.

He's made a thoughtful Western, which he knows is unfashionable. It features a post-Civil-War clash between open range cattlemen and landowners, a tale that unfolds naturally, which translates to slow-paced by current standards. It's long (2 hours, 15 minutes). The female lead, Annette Bening, looks her 45 years. Moreover, it's neither a sequel nor an adaptation of an old television series.

"I don't believe in the conventions of moviemaking for the commercial response," Costner said. "I would rather my movie be commercially successful on its own terms than be moulded into the norms of the hour-and-50-minute movie. Open Range could not absorb (elements of) conventional moviemaking. It would suffer; it would not be the same movie."

Against Costner's natural inclinations, Disney is releasing Open Range in the dog days of summer. Summer movies are measured by their ability to make money in those first few weekends of release, something Costner swears he doesn't care about.

Costner has been accused of being egotistical and his career has had some seriously rough patches, starting in 1995 with the expensive critical bomb Waterworld, continuing with the post-apocalyptic The Postman in 1997, the stupidly gooey Message in a Bottle in 1999 and the hideous 3,000 Miles to Graceland in 2001. Critics responded well to Thirteen Days, but audiences ignored it. 1996's Tin Cup was his last clear hit. If he were defensive, it wouldn't be a surprise.

But instead, Costner is convincingly easy and relaxed, whether he's talking about the failings of Robin Hood or discussing the 19-year age difference between him and his fiancee, Christine Baumgartner. His blue eyes are still schoolboy earnest.

Costner invested a lot of his own money in Open Range (supposedly, he won't profit off the project until--or if--the movie makes money) and in return, he had creative control. He didn't on movies such as Message in a Bottle, which he regrets.

Though he prides himself on making movies for men, he wants women to respond as well. Open Range is a "date movie," he proclaims, with a love story grownups can respond to. "It's really about the words. I'm in love with words and I liked to see love portrayed with words and the sparks that fly back and forth between men and women. The dance that we do amuses me, it intrigues me, it thrills me, it angers me, it destroys me."