Kevin Costner & Jeff Kurkjian

Beasley Digital

4/23/2025

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Jeff Kirkshin from 92.5 XTU with Kevin Costner.

00:04And Kevin, I want to talk about family today,

00:07because I know how important your family is to you.

00:09This movie features your son, Hayes.

00:12How cool was that, being able to work with him?

00:15Yeah, no, you know, families came west, you know,

00:19and they struggled together,

00:21and the whole idea was to make life better for them.

00:24And then their life, if you're talking a 200, 300-year jog, slog,

00:31out there in the West, was to make it better for theirs.

00:33And this is, I had a chance to have my son in the movie,

00:38and he's in a very powerful scene that happens.

00:42And you see the promise of life,

00:44and you see the suddenness of what can happen.

00:48How full circle is this for you?

00:50Because you've put your parents in movies,

00:53and now you've put your son in a movie.

00:56Is that pretty neat to be able to do both?

00:57Well, I make sure that they're not taking parts away from people

01:00whose biggest desire in the world is to be in movies.

01:03Right.

01:04I want to expose my children like anybody does to their father's work,

01:08and if that's interesting to them, they can decide that or not.

01:11But sometimes a part was such that I could have him out

01:14and be with me for a week.

01:16But he'll have an impact the rest of his life.

01:18He'll live forever at his age in this movie now.

01:21So he's a handsome young man.

01:24He'll be a handsome man, and he'll have children,

01:28and they'll go back, and they'll see him at this point.

01:31And we'll always be connected.

01:34You know, my greatest joy,

01:36I'm a country radio music host here in Philadelphia,

01:38but my dad is actually ESPN's Tim Kirkshin.

01:42So he's dedicated his entire life to covering the game of baseball.

01:45And just this season, we started a podcast together

01:48to talk baseball every single week.

01:51And the greatest joy of my career as a son

01:53is being able to work with him.

01:55So I can only imagine how Hayes is feeling,

01:57being able to see Dad on set and being directed by his dad.

02:02There was no, like, butting heads, right?

02:04He followed directions well.

02:05Yeah, and I wasn't easy on him.

02:07Right.

02:07Santa told me.

02:08She goes, you weren't easy on him.

02:10And I said, I know.

02:11It was a forever moment.

02:13You know, he's not a trained actor,

02:16but I just worked with him.

02:18And, you know, that's what I did.

02:22Talk a little bit more about the moment you had

02:25screening the film at the music festival.

02:28Yeah.

02:28And how incredible that standing ovation was.

02:32You were drawn to tears.

02:33Have you ever had a moment in your career quite like this?

02:36Because this project, this is huge.

02:39You are so emotionally involved in this.

02:41Have you ever experienced anything like this in your career?

02:44No.

02:44It was bigger than I could have imagined.

02:48And, you know, my eyes filled.

02:50They were, I, you know, got something in them.

02:55I don't know what happened.

02:56But I just tried to hold on and take in the moment,

03:02understand what this journey has been about for me,

03:04this life in the movies and my friends who supported me

03:08and my family and my children were there.

03:10And they saw this thing happening and it was interesting.

03:16I know you're a ball player and you love baseball.

03:18Is this a similar feeling to one would have

03:20in the bottom of the ninth inning hitting a home run?

03:23I mean, I can't liken it to anything.

03:24I've never had that opportunity.

03:26But that must, it must have felt like

03:27all of this culmination of work just finally gets released.

03:31You, you, you, you, you know, I, I make these on purpose for people.

03:36Right.

03:37So I wanted them to enjoy it.

03:38Will they?

03:39I, you know, you can't ever speak to that.

03:41But for people to rally around this Western and say,

03:44it's more than a Western.

03:46It's a journey, you know, and, and people are getting that,

03:50you know, and people are buying into it.

03:54In fact, they're buying the second ticket for the one in August.

03:58I think they're doing that now because they see how connected the movies are.

04:04And it's refreshing too, because this is a movie that,

04:06that needs to be seen on the big screen because of how beautiful the setting is.

04:10It's absolutely stunning and spectacular.

04:13Your love of Westerns has.

04:14Well, when did it kick off for you?

04:16So you're watching it in the dark.

04:17So you're watching, okay, I've got to see a movie.

04:19That's Western.

04:19Okay.

04:20So now you're watching it in the dark.

04:21And the first image is an anthole.

04:23So when did it kick off for you?

04:25I really think the first wide shot of just true Western America, right,

04:30where you, you get the mountains and that's when I,

04:33when you can be converted into a space and forget where you are, right?

04:38Like I love watching movies on planes.

04:40So you started leaning in.

04:41You start to really lean in and you forget where you are, right?

04:43If you can forget where you are and,

04:45and your movie trans, just transports people to a different place.

04:50And I, I think that's beautiful.

04:51And, and these Westerns that you grew up loving, you finally,

04:55with your production and you've been a part of so many great films,

04:58but how cool is it to now go full circle from growing up loving Westerns to now

05:02making a modern day Western about such an incredible time in America?

05:05Yeah.

05:05I know there's somebody just like me sitting in a chair when his feet were so

05:09short, they still can't even touch the ground.

05:11And, and, and, you know, this may have an R on it,

05:14but it's really the kind of movie on a father's day that I think fathers are

05:18going to want to take their sons and take their daughters and mothers want to

05:23take, I think it's a family movie.

05:26You have to understand the pain that went with settling America,

05:30but also the nobility and the courage, you know,

05:33and the humanity, you know,

05:35and the struggle that native Americans had.

05:37But it's like we don't want to shield them from this, you know,

05:42I don't shirk from the violence, but I also,

05:45there's also humanity in it.

05:47There's a reality to it that everybody needs to be educated on.

05:51There's this huge cast that you get to work with.

05:53And I know as a director and a producer, you don't want to play favorites,

05:56but for people who go see the movie,

05:58is there one performance from one actor or actress that you say,

06:01just keep your eyes a little bit on this character.

06:04I can say four people.

06:05You keep, you can keep your eyes on Sienna Miller,

06:07and you keep your eyes on Ella Hunt and Abby Lee and Jenna Malone.

06:11And, and, um, and Isabel there,

06:14but they all become stronger and stronger if they're,

06:17if they're not killed.

06:18Right.

06:19And that's the worry about movies like this,

06:22but they're the acting parts, you know,

06:24and, and, and Luke Wilson is so great.

06:26He's fantastic.

06:27And, and Michael Rooker, you know, um, the, the Irish sergeant.

06:32Yeah.

06:33You know, it's like, yeah, it, the acting roles are superb.

06:37Mm-hmm.

06:38I want to ask one last question about John Debney, right?

06:42Who does the music.

06:43He did The Greatest Showman, which is one of my favorite movies.

06:46How cool is that to have a guy who does a musical like that, right?

06:50To can do the music for what he's doing here.

06:52Listen, we went to Scotland.

06:53We had a 92 piece orchestra and he just, he just kicked it, man.

06:58And, and that, that, yeah, when you see him playing, it's just,

07:02this is not synthesized.

07:03This is straight up orchestra.

07:05And you can feel that, you know, as, as a radio host,

07:07you know, the difference between live music and recording.

07:10No, we're going back to Scotland.

07:12We're recording now again, four times.

07:15Well, Kevin Costner, thank you so, so much.

07:18It was a pleasure to interview you on a quick personal note.

07:21My dad and I, the first movie he ever showed me when I was old enough

07:24to have any understanding of anything was Field of Dreams.

07:26Yeah.

07:27It's my favorite movie of all time.

07:29It's not just my favorite.

07:30Well, now you've got to return the favor to him on dad's day.

07:33You need to take him to the theater.

07:35Has he seen this?

07:36I, no, not yet.

07:37Funny enough, we were recording our podcast together and I, I, I said,

07:40I got the screener coming up and he said, ah, he's going to London

07:43to do the London series with the Phillies and the Mets.

07:45So he wasn't able to.

07:46Well, that, yeah, it doesn't matter, but he'll see it on the big screen.

07:49Absolutely.

07:50Even better on a big screen.

07:51You take him, you take him to that.

07:52We'll take him.

07:53Kevin Costner, thank you so much for your time.

07:54All right, a lot of extra butter, right?

07:56Yep.

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