Most people will point to Waterworld when asked to identify Kevin Costner‘s biggest box office flop. Those people are not necessarily wrong, either. The 1995 waterlogged disaster cost $175 million to make. That’s more than the annual GDP for a lot of countries. And though is did earn $264 million, it is widely considered a missed opportunity on behalf of the Yellowstone actor. But there is another 90s film that Costner made and actually footed the bill for just two years later that is by all accounts an even bigger flop than Waterworld. We’re talking about the doomed The Postman returned only $20 million on a budget of more than $85 million, a good portion of which came out of Costner’s own wallet. So what in the “waterworld” happened to this David Brin novel adaptation of a mailman on horseback who rides in the vast Northwestern portion of the United States in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic society? And why did the star decide to use his own money to get the production to the finish line?
Costner Has Always Invested in His Own Projects
Much is made out of Costner putting up his own money for The Postman because the film did so badly in theaters and was widely panned by both critics and audiences alike. But Costner has also picked up the tab for some of his more successful movies as well. For his triumphant 1990 western epic Dances with Wolvesthe star invested $3 million out of his own pocket and was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Picture. He also invested more than $9 million in Black or Whitea 2014 film that starred Costner, Octavia Spencerand Anthony Mackie. You won’t hear much about that either as the film more than doubled its investment making over $21 million on the cash that the actor put into the film. The reason such a stink is raised about his financial backing of The Postman is that it was a huge project and was also coming on the heels of another enormous bomb in Waterworld.
So What Went Wrong With ‘The Postman’?
There are plenty of reasons to pile on The Postmanfrom the excessive runtime of over three hours to the portousness of its lead, director, and also producer, Costner. But aside from being a bad investment, there is something about the film that doesn’t ring true. It is set in 2013 and what’s left of society has been separated into small hamlets of survivors who fight each other for the scraps of a once vibrant civilization. It was Kevin Costner in another apocalyptic setting, only this time he wasn’t surrounded by water, but by miles and miles of landlocked, dusty flatlands. The star went from Waterworld directly to “Dirtworld” without passing “Go” and definitely without collecting $200.
The best dialogue in the film is in the opening scenes between Costner and his horse, “Bill.” That should tell you all you need to know about the screenplay. It appears as if Costner is trying like hell to emulate Cervantes‘ Don Quixote and find the magic he had unearthed some seven years prior with the legendary Dances with Wolves, but without the earnestness of the Oscar-winning saga. Will Pattona terrific actor who also appeared with Costner 10 years prior in the Cold War spy thriller, No Way Out, has the misfortune of playing General Bethlehem, Costner’s nemesis. General Bethlehem and his men also happen to be ruthless racists and misogynists in an era that still allowed such characters to appear on the screen and say certain harmful words. and it just keeps going downhill from there. These are all things you can gather from watching the first 30 minutes of the film.
Somehow Costner also managed to wrangle the great Tom Petty into making a cameo and unnecessarily besmirched the rock icon’s legacy in the process of all this.
What Was Costner Thinking (and Spending)?
In the opening scenes, we see Costner traveling alone in the vast expanses of the Great Salt Flats in Utah and talking to his horse. This leads to maybe the crucial question and overall metaphor of the project. Was he genuinely lonely and seeking something to keep him sane, or does Costner just really like to hear his own voice? The bigger question is, when did this bad film stop being about telling a compelling story, and become an ego trap and Costner’s personal money pit? Maybe he had sunk so much money into the project by the time they actually got to shoot the principal photography, that there was no turning back for The Postman. It’s no secret that Costner is not the most modest guy to ever make his own films, but how could he possibly have thought that this would work out well for him?
Fool me once (Waterworld) shame on you. Fool me twice (The Postman) shame on me. There’s plenty of shame to go around, but we really don’t think the newly crowned king of the modern Western cares one way or another. As long as he’s able to move on to the next project. And though we couldn’t track down an exact figure for what Costner spent on The Postmanwhatever profit he had made from all his good work in The Untouchables, Field of Dreams, The Bodyguardand Dances with Wolves had to be gone by the time he was done footing most of the bill for this $20 million mess. His Everyman Ray Kinsella character from Field of Dreams just wasn’t going to fly in a hardscrabble, lawless frontier. You’re not in the corn fields anymore, Kevin, and the New World Order cannot be settled by two middle-aged white men grappling with each other like high school wrestlers.
Did He Learn from this Fiasco?
After a nightmarish end to the millennium that saw Costner fall from the ranks of A-list, bona fide, show-up-and-shoot moneymakers to an actor that was approaching dreaded “has been” status, you would think he would steer clear of any more cash vacuums. For the most part, he has. In the 21st century, he has produced seven more films. All of them have received mixed to good reviews, particularly 2003’s Open Range, a Yellowstone-like western yarn that made more than a 300% profit from its $20 million budget. And the aforementioned Black or White that turned a tidy profit on a small budget. In recent years, Costner has found his niche within the Western genre with the critically acclaimed, Let Him Go in 2020 which he starred opposite Sissy Spacek, and now the Paramount television blockbuster Yellowstone under the steady hand of creator Taylor Sheridan. Costner is also set to produce, direct, and star in another Western, horizonin the spring of this year. He will share the screen with Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilsonand Thomas Haden Church. But fair warning! General Bethlehem — Will Patton — is also set to pal up with Costner in the new film, too. This time the pairing feels more right than it is in … The Postman.