Kevin Costner got candid about the first time he tried cocaine.
The 69-year-old Oscar winner — who was recently dragged by his Field of Dreams costar Gabby Hoffman — revealed he was offered the drug while working on film sets during his early days in Hollywood.
The star explained that he had taken on the job of stage manager at Raleigh Studios, assisting in commercial projects as he pursued his big break as an actor, per his Armchair Expert podcast appearance on Monday.
After helping a group of electricians on a production, Costner explained that they wanted to express their gratitude in an unexpected way.
‘At one point, they take me back into the grip room and say, “Here,” and they put out a little line of coke,’ he told host Dax Shepard. ‘And they say, “Thank you for all the s*** you’re doing for us.”‘
Costner admitted he tried the drug but was more concerned about saving money to purchase his first home.
‘So, I do that and nothing, and I do it a second time and I do it a third time,’ he recalled. ‘And finally I said to them,”‘Hey, look, how much is that?” And he says, “That’s about $20 right there,” and I said, “Can I say something to you?” And he says, “Yeah, f***, of course, man, what?”
‘And I said, “Look, I’m trying to buy my first house,” and I said, “If you think what I’m doing’s cool, I could use $20. I could take a twenty. And I was out of the club immediately.’
He added: ‘I saw myself excluded because I didn’t want to do this. It was kind of lucky for me that I didn’t like coke. There was nothing there for me.’
Within a few years, Costner became a star with roles in The Untouchables, Bull Durham, and Field of Dreams.
In 1990, he directed and starred in Dances With Wolves, which won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1991 Academy Awards.
The drug anecdote comes after Costner set the record straight on the behind-the-scenes drama of Yellowstone.
The actor, who plays John Dutton III in the Taylor Sheridan series, claims he honored his contract despite ongoing rumors.
Allegedly, a feud between Costner and Sheridan caused the hold up. Paramount claimed Costner refused to shoot more episodes, instead promoting his new film franchise, Horizon, while Costner asserts Paramount sought contract amendments due to Sheridan’s delayed scriptwriting.
‘There was no script,’ Costner told Deadline. ‘And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s drama] for a year and a half.’
He added: ‘I have taken a beating from those f****** guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong.’
Costner, who revealed he has not filmed the remaining episodes of Season 5, also defended Sheridan, claiming, ‘I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.’
After the first half of the fifth season of Yellowstone aired late last year, the show went on hiatus for the holidays.
Their return to filming, originally slated for the beginning of the year, was postponed to sometime this summer, with no announced premiere date.
Since Yellowstone went on hiatus, Costner has borne the brunt of the blame.
‘I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working.
‘They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.’
However, rumors claimed he only wanted to work for one week to film the rest of the episodes. Costner contends that Paramount deceived him.
‘I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,’ he told Deadline. ‘It wasn’t truthful.’
Costner also hinted at Sheridan being stretched thin at Paramount, suggesting it as the reason for running out of scripts for the latter half of Yellowstone season 5.
Apart from his involvement in the popular Western, Sheridan oversees a multitude of projects including Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Special Ops: Lioness, and Lawman: Bass Reeves, alongside Yellowstone spin-offs like 1883 and 1923.
Reportedly, Paramount also intends to launch a new Yellowstone sequel/spin-off starring Matthew McConaughey.
‘There’s a lot of product they were putting out,’ Costner said. ‘[Yellowstone] didn’t have the scripts. And they wrote these other three shows. They don’t ever talk about that.’
When asked if things could be worked out if he sat down ‘man-to-man’ with Sheridan, Costner argued: ‘Don’t talk to me about man-to-man.’
‘I was straight up with him and he said what we would do and I believed him and we didn’t get there,’ he said.
Despite the drama, Costner hasn’t closed the door on returning to Yellowstone.
‘I’m very open to coming back. If they’ve got so many other things going on, maybe this circles back and it’s a really cool two seasons,’ he said.
‘Or end it, if the writing’s there and I’m happy with it. I’m open to that. But I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out.’