Kevin Costner Interview for 'Swing Vote'

16 Questions With: Kevin Costner

Call Kevin Costner a quadruple threat; he's an award-winning actor, director and writer, and now we can add musician to that list. But talented as he may be, his 'Swing Vote' character Bud Johnson's got one on him -- due to a voting snafu, it's down to Bud to cast the deciding vote in the U.S. Presidential election. Moviefone chatted with Costner about the state of the union, his plans for a sequel to one of his films and adding to his family. -- By Angie Argabrite

Touchstone Pictures

1. So why did you choose this for your first non-romantic comedy?
They kind of choose you. It's the way I try to approach life, without having a preconceived idea of what's going to happen. If I go to Yosemite, I'm going to see the mountains and river. I get that. But what am I gonna do when I get there? I try to leave that open. There are movies that I want to play. But I don't want to overlay that with what I'm reading. That way [a script] can speak out loud to me. That's what happened with 'Swing Vote.' I had no idea what I was gonna read. I'd probably read 30-40 scripts ... And when I finally read that one, I said, "Gee, I'd like to make this one."

Touchstone Pictures

2. In 'Swing Vote,' the state of the union leaves a lot to be desired. What's your take on where we are now?
We have not been able to get out of our own way. Our public servants [haven't been able to] drop their egos and move the country forward, especially in the obvious ways. When something's a real problem, there's not an immediate answer. But there're so many things that, just from a commonsense standpoint, we should fix -- beginning with term limits [and] the kind of money that's thrown at politicians. That's just a cursory thing, but that seems to be obvious. But we don't even seem to be able to solve that. So I fall into the category where I'm disappointed, yeah.

Touchstone Pictures

3. Would you ever consider running for office?
No. I've just lived a little bit too colorful a life. I think people would use that to their advantage, and we would quickly get off the issues that were important. And we would move to something that was just kind of sensational and fun that really doesn't matter. And that wouldn't be any fun for me.

Elisabetta Villa, Getty Images

4. Which is more fun for you to play: a good guy or a bad guy?
Neither one. I mean bad guys have their obvious things going on. But it was fun to play Bud Johnson in 'Swing Vote.' He was a real rascal. So, that character's just as fun as a bad guy.

Touchstone Pictures

5. In 'Mr. Brooks' you play someone who's not a rascal, who's very dark ...
Yeah. But it was understandable how that was the way it was. That's what I liked about it. When there's a level of understanding in movies, you can do anything. If you play something as a cliché or whatever, you know, something obvious ... I normally would not have [done] a movie that dealt with serial killing because it's so despicable. It's not something that needs to be celebrated. But I thought it was such an interesting take on the subject that I saw it as a piece of entertainment, albeit different. I thought that it qualified.

MGM

6. What's been your favorite character of all the characters you've played?
Probably Billy Chapel in 'For Love of the Game.' I don't know why.

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7. There've been reports of a 'Dances With Wolves' sequel. Can you speak to that?
I've heard that, yeah. I'm not in it. But I've heard that ... I don't think I'm involved. I'm not planning to be involved in any way.

Everett Collection

8. Are there any of your films you think would make a good sequel?
I think 'Bodyguard' would make a good sequel. I think 'Tin Cup' ... 'Bull Durham' ... 'Open Range' would've made a good sequel. 'No Way Out' would have made a good sequel, to find out where he went in his life. A lot of the movies I've made would lend themselves to continuation. 'Mr. Brooks' was designed as a sequel and a trequel. The story's still not complete. It hasn't been told because he must be caught for sure.

Everett Collection

9. Are there any plans for any sequels to any of your films?
Well, the people responsible [for 'Mr. Brooks'] kind of bungled a lot of things. So I have to figure out a way to get it back from them in order to do that. But it's worth exploring .... [As for any of the others,] if somebody writes it, I'd look at it. But I don't pursue that kind of thing. I just keep making the individual movie.

MGM