Kevin Costner isn't happy with his Yellowstone transition to TV acting: “I don’t like it too much"

Indiewire

“It hasn’t been an easy adjustment for me. I don't like it too much," the Oscar-winning Costner tells Indiewire of his first long-term TV series role. Costner says his main issues are that he doesn't know the full backstory of his character, powerful rancher John Dutton, or where he's headed. "I would like to, but I’m not always privy to it, no,” says Costner. “Sometimes with (John’s) sons or wife or whatever, that’s been really kept in a creative ball. That’s a more vulnerable way to go through life as an actor.” As Indiewire's Ben Travers point out, being in the dark is typical for a TV actor. "Some producers," says Travers, "restrict access to scripts in order to avoid actors spoiling storylines they’re not a part of, like with Game of Thrones, while others merely haven’t figured out what the end of a season or series will be when they have to start production — this is very common for broadcast shows, but still prevalent elsewhere." Another issue for Costner is that Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan became less involved in Season 2. “We’ve dealt with things,” Costner says of his conversations with Sheridan, “but this second season was a combination of a writers’ room and him, so that wasn’t exactly clear. Now it’s just a straight writers’ room.” Now, Costner says he isn't sure if his character can have satisfying end to his storyline. “If your foot’s on the gas, you can run into a wall,” he says. “Something can run quite a while if the architecture of it is careful — not explosive, but careful. You can run a long time if you make things really compelling, but that’s a really hard thing to do. It takes a lot of thought. It’s not impulsive writing. It’s writing with a lot of extended thought.” Costner adds that if he ever does TV again, he'll be more prepared going in. “I’m going to play the second half of my career out directing, but it could very well be in television,” he said. “But it won’t be making it up as you go. The architecture has to be there. I’m more about that. Listen, a lot of my movies are long. I like the subplots. I like it when it all comes together — (but not when) it’s made up on the fly. I don’t trust that.”