For Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino wrote a role especially for Kevin Costner. He was initially interested, but then turned it down because of another leading role.
With Django Unchained, cult director Quentin Tarantino has made the most successful film of his career to date. With a budget of 100 million dollars, the casual revenge epic grossed over 425 million dollars worldwide.
Yellowstone star Kevin Costner almost became part of this success story. Tarantino wrote a role especially for the actor at the time. But he turned it down for another part in a series.
Kevin Costner turned down Django Unchained role for series
Collider has once again broken out the longer story behind the Tarantino-Costner connection of Django Unchained. Before shooting the film, the director, a Costner fan, had written an extra part for the star into the script. He was to play a character called Ace Woody, who would have acted as the Mandingo trainer and right-hand man to the villain Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
The role would have subverted viewing expectations and shown Costner not as the usual good guy, but as an extremely sadistic creep. But the actor turned it down, preferring to take the lead role in Hatfield’s & McCoys. This seems like a surprising decision, as a Tarantino blockbuster was the more promising opportunity over 10 years ago.
However, the western series became a surprise success in 2012, receiving several Emmy nominations and even earning Costner an award for best actor in a mini-series. The story about two family heads (Costner and Bill Paxton) who have been enemies for many years can now be seen as a Yellowstone forerunner.
Here you can watch another trailer for Hatfield & McCoys:
Where can you watch Hatfields & McCoys?
The western mini-series is currently not streaming anywhere with a subscription. If you still want to watch Hatfields & McCoys, you can rent or buy the episodes from Amazon Prime or Apple TV. If you want to watch Django Unchained, all you need is a Netflix subscription. The Tarantino flick is currently streaming on a flat rate here.
Also exciting for Kevin Costner fans: The star reveals new reason for Yellowstone exit
