Kevin Costner Was Apparently a Nightmare to Work With on 'Waterworld'

By Michael Hein

It's been almost three decades since the premiere of Waterworld, and it remains one of the most infamous Hollywood mishaps of all time. The post-apocalyptic fantasy was star-studded with a massive budget, yet it was still a commercial and critical flop. With the benefit of hindsight, many critics say the problems stemmed from star Kevin Costner.

Waterworld stars Costner as a hero known as "The Mariner" living in the year 2500 CE when the ice caps have melted and the rising oceans seem to have covered all dry land on earth. The story and setting are often compared to those of Mad Max, and in fact, the writers who first developed the idea were very open about taking inspiration from that franchise. However, from the time the first draft of the script was written in 1986 to the time the movie premiered in 1995, it underwent a lot of changes and compromises – particularly after Costner joined the project in 1992.

Ultimately, the biggest problem with Waterworld was money. The movie's budget inflated out of control during the production process so that even a successful debut at the box office couldn't make a dent in its costs. The production itself reportedly totaled $172 million, and once marketing and distribution were accounted for, its total outlay was $235 million. After premiering as the number one movie, it made $21.6 million in its first weekend. The movie eventually became profitable years later, but it meandered to the finish line slower than the Mariner's trimaran could sail.

Unsurprisingly, Waterworld's unique worldbuilding and epic scale made it a cult classic over the years, and it has many die-hard fans to this day. The movie is now being adapted into a TV series by Universal Cable Productions under the stewardship of director Dan Trachtenberg. There is plenty of reason to believe this series will avoid the pitfalls of its predecessor.

From today's perspective, it's easy to see the kind of subgenre Waterworld should have fit into, but stories from behind the scenes indicate that Costner and other producers on the film may not have had a mutual understanding while they were working together. Here's a look back at what went wrong on Waterworld and how Costner apparently impeded the process.

Pre-Costner

It's important to understand the conditions under which Waterworld was developed before Costner got involved, and how he changed that dynamic. The movie was first conceived by writer Peter Rader and producer Brad Krevoy, with Rader writing a script in 1986. They drew inspiration from comic books including Freakwave by Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy, which was billed as "Mad Max goes surfing." They had more lofty inspirations from mythology as well, but it was clear that they were working from a low-budget mindset much like George Miller when he made the original Mad Max.

Rader and Krevoy let their idea sit until around 1989, and when they began selling it they reportedly went through numerous rewrites. Finally, they caught the interest of Costner and director Kevin Reynolds. Costner and Reynolds were friends and successful collaborators coming off of movies like Fandango and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. They chose Waterworld for its epic scope, but in hindsight, it seems like they came at it from a very different angle than its creators.

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Budget

The first and biggest issue with Waterworld was its budget. Universal initially greenlit the movie with a budget of $100 million, but the team sailed past that number before long. According to a report by The Los Angeles Times, Waterworld set a record for the most expensive production budget at the time, largely due to the logistics of filming practical stunts on the water.

The movie was filmed mostly off the coast of Hawaii but used an artificial seawater enclosure to provide some control of the elements. Ultimately this was a losing battle – at one point a hurricane blew through the area and destroyed a multi-million-dollar set, forcing the team to rebuild it at great cost.

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Spielberg's Warning

While there is no predicting natural disasters, there were some warning signs that Costner ignored as a producer. According to Rader, Steven Spielberg himself spoke to Costner and Reynolds, urging them not to film on the open water based on his own experience making Jaws. Costner and Reynolds chose not to listen. Rader told this story in 2020 in an interview with Yahoo News.

"The complications of producing this movie in a practical environment were staggering," he said. "Kevin said, 'Steven, I'm doing this Waterworld movie, and we're shooting on water. Do you have any advice for me?' And Spielberg was unequivocal: 'Do not shoot on water! You're going to need a couple of shots on water, so use second unit for that. Do all of your coverage in a tank or a stage.'"

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Grueling Conditions

Filming on the water was not only expensive but apparently difficult and dangerous. Costner would later tell an interviewer from Stashed Chats that he spent six days a week on an oceanic set for 157 days straight. At one point, he nearly lost control of his unique trimaran vehicle, and experts said the stunt could have been deadly. Costner himself was protected from some danger by having a stunt double – professional surfer Laird Hamilton. The exposed and dangerous conditions undoubtedly contributed to the fierce tensions on set.

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Score Disputes

Biting off more than he could chew is one thing, but Costner's missteps seem a lot more flagrant when it comes to the score. Composer Mark Isham was hired to create the movie's music, but according to a report by Film Tracks, Costner rejected Isham's work when it was still in its early demo recording stages. Costner complained that the music was "too ethnic and bleak," and refused to give Isham another chance. Instead, James Newton Howard was hired to write a new score.

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Director Disputes

Costner even clashed with Reynolds on this shoot, which may be surprising after their successful collaboration on three other films and apparent friendship offscreen. According to The L.A. Times Reynolds even quit as director near the end of the shoot and left the set due to his constant arguments with Costner. However, Reynolds was still credited as the movie's sole director. It would be 20 years before Reynolds and Costner worked together again.

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Rewrites

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Finally, Waterworld went through numerous rewrites but all of them were reportedly reliant on Costner's final approval. After being developed by Rader and Krevoy and written by Rader, the script underwent numerous rewrites and ultimately credited David Twohy as a co-writer. However, in a 2009 interview with The A.V. Club Joss Whedon confirmed that he had been hired to do uncredited re-writes of the script while it was in production. Whedon said that he flew to Hawaii to work on the floating set itself, but said that the whole process was "seven weeks of hell." He said that he was expected to write up Costner's ideas without altering them.

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More 'Waterworld'

Waterworld did not become profitable until years after its release thanks to the sale of home videos and the TV broadcast rights. In 2019 the movie was re-released in on 4K Blu-ray. In the meantime, it remained clear that this unique sci-fi/fantasy setting held fans' attention. A novelization of the movie was written by Max Allan Collins with much more detail on the world of the atolas, and a spinoff comic book series was published in 1997 called Waterworld: Children of Leviathan. However, Costner was not cooperative with that process, refusing for his likeness to be used in the comic. The Mariner appears in the story but looks very different to avoid a lawsuit.

Waterworld also succeeded as a handful of video games and a theme park attraction at three Universal Studios parks around the world. However, fans' hopes for an on-screen sequel have gone unanswered – until now.

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TV Series

In July of 2021 Collider reported that a Waterworld TV series is in the works by Universal Cable Productions. Producer John Davis broke the news, saying that Dan Trachtenberg would direct. So far, no other talent on or off camera has been confirmed.

The TV show will reportedly pick up about 20 years after the events of the movie, meaning it will be a sequel or a spinoff rather than a remake. It's not clear where it will air, but sources close to the project told Deadline that UCP is hoping to put it on its sister streaming service, Peacock. There have been no major updates on this project since 2021, so there's no telling when fans might see it for themselves. In the meantime, Waterworld is streaming on Peacock and is also available to rent or purchase on digital stores like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

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