Kevin Costner Jabs Whoopi Goldberg for Cutting Him Off, Going to Commercial - 'Stand Down, We're Talking'
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
Actor Kevin Costner ribbed “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg for going to a commercial break during his appearance on the ABC show on June 17.
After about a seven-minute segment discussing his family life and his new film, “Horizon: An American Saga,” Costner spotted Goldberg preparing to intervene in the discussion to go to commercial break.
The actor was in the middle of making a point about Native Americans and the clash of cultures and competing interests as the United States expanded from sea to sea. “Horizon” takes place before and after the Civil War.
“Oh, OK. I just — yeah, OK,” Whoopi said as the show’s producers were signaling her about needing to take the break.
“Take control of this Whoopi, honestly,” Costner said. “Tell those sponsors to stand down, we’re talking!”
His comment drew laughter from the audience and the panelists.
“Well — yeah,” Goldberg responded while pointing at the camera, but the program went to commercial anyway.
During the interview, Costner, a father of seven, said how moving it was to receive an 11-minute standing ovation for “Horizon” following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month in France with his kids standing by his side.
After the commercial break, “The View” showed a scene from the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” about baseball and the strained relationship the main character, Ray Kinsella, played by Costner, had with his father before his death.
“There was a lot of magic about that little movie,” Costner said.
He noted that Robin Williams had been up to play the lead role, but director Phil Alden Robinson went with him instead.
Costner recounted to “The View” hosts that he had asked Robinson why he had not gone with Williams, who he felt was a bigger actor at the time.
Robinson shared his reasoning, telling the actor, “When I think of Robin, I think of somebody who does hear voices in the corn, and I thought I needed somebody like you.”
In other words, the director wanted someone who came off as a regular guy having to deal with this bizarre, otherworldly experience.
In addition to “Horizon,” Costner has starred in several movies set in the Old West, including “Silverado” (1985), “Dances with Wolves” (1990) and “Wyatt Earp” (1994).
More recently, he portrayed John Dutton in the hit Paramount series “Yellowstone,” set in present-day Montana.
Deadline reported that the first chapter of “Horizon” will arrive on June 28, while the second chapter will hit theaters on Aug. 16.
There are slated to be four chapters. Production on the third chapter is underway.
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