IPeople: In Costner’s eyes, ‘Brooks’ runs deep
A lot of people thought that Kevin Costner should have passed on “Mr. Brooks.”
You’re playing a serial killer, they said, and your fans won’t like that. It’s a small, independent production, they said, and it’s going to get lost amid the studios’ wannabe blockbusters.
And it leaves too much for the viewers to figure out on their own, they said – including an ending that doesn’t tie up everything in a neat, easily understood resolution.
Which is exactly why Costner not only agreed to star, he signed on as the producer of the dramatic thriller, which opened Friday.
“I can’t worry about things like that,” Costner says. “I wanted to give people an original movie. I can’t cave into the fact that some people might not like it. That would be a mistake.”
The script was sent to him while he was filming “The Upside of Anger,” but he was too busy to read it. Then he got a phone call from director Kevin Reynolds, who worked with him on “Waterworld” and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Reynolds wasn’t interested in “Mr. Brooks,” but he thought that Costner might be.
“He knows the two guys who wrote it,” Costner said. “So I read the script, and I was immediately taken with it. I had to call up the writers and congratulate them on how original it was.”
He also applauded their nerve in “creating such a despicable subject” as the protagonist – a compulsive killer. Fearing the project could be mishandled, he offered to be the film’s producer.
“The conventional wisdom would be to soften the character,” he says. “I didn’t want that to happen.”
William Hurt co-stars as the character’s conscience. Hurt is in many of the scenes Costner is in, but only Costner can see and talk with him.
“We are very fortunate to have William, because it’s an important role,” Costner says. “My character couldn’t always be dour. We need him to have some fun, to laugh every now and then. And he can do that with his conscience.”
The movie ends with unresolved plot lines that Costner hopes can be addressed in the future.
“It was conceived as the first movie of a trilogy,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that that wasn’t an excuse the writers just made up, so I made them outline the next two movies for me. …
“Now I know how the story ends. So I’m OK with this.”
Not that Costner is counting on the other movies being made. First, this release has to fight its way through the high-profile movies that dominate the multiplexes this time of year.
He remains hopeful, however.
“It doesn’t have to have a big following,” he says. “Just a loyal following.
“Hollywood is always looking at the wrong thing. They look at box office. But that’s the wrong indicator because it doesn’t say anything about a movie’s true value. For me, if you still remember a movie five years from now, that’s the true test.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Tony Curtis is 82. Game-show host Chuck Barris is 78. Actor Scott Valentine (“Family Ties”) is 49. Newsman Anderson Cooper is 40. Country singer Jamie O’Neal is 39. Actress Lalaine Dupree (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 20.