Kevin Costner Was on Morphine Drip and Had Kidney Stones While Filming ‘Hidden Figures’: ‘I Wanted to Cry’

Kevin Costner has shared how he managed to complete filming on his 2016 movie ‘Hidden Figures’ despite a debilitating health issue.

During an interview with People magazine, the 69-year-old actor opened up about the difficulties he encountered while filming the biographical drama in spring 2016.

“I’ve never worked on a set drunk. I’ve never worked on a set stoned. But I was on morphine the last two weeks that I worked on (Hidden Figures),” Costner said.

“I had kidney stones and I worked for 10 days on a drip. I don’t even know how.

‘HORIZON’ DIRECTOR KEVIN COSTNER ACKNOWLEDGES ‘GOD ALLOWED HIM’ TO MAKE EPIC FILM DESPITE ENORMOUS PERSONAL RISK

“About three days I was normal, and then something happened to me,” he recalls. “I didn’t miss a day of work. I never missed a day of work. And then, just when I thought I was going to stop (morphine), a second kidney stone came in, which I never had, and I was back on it.

“So I was sitting in my trailer with a morphine drip in my arm. »

“Hidden Figures,” which is loosely based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 nonfiction book of the same title, follows three Black female mathematicians — Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) – whose work at NASA led to the successful launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit and propelled the United States ahead of the Soviet Union in the space race.

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Costner played the fictional character of Al Harrison, the director of NASA’s Space Task Group. Speaking with People, Costner revealed that the visible bruising he suffered from IV treatments affected his wardrobe choices in the film.

“I ended up having to pull my sleeves down rather than rolling them up for this reason,” Costner said. “I wanted to cry, but everyone was watching, so I didn’t. »

Directed by Theodore Melfi, “Hidden Figures” was a box office success and earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Spencer and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Costner recalled that he teamed up with Melfi to develop the character of Al Harrison, based on three different real people.

“It’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve had,” he said of the collaboration. “Working with Ted was magical. He trusted me so much. »

The first film in Costner’s four-part post-Civil War drama, “Horizon: An American Saga,” hit theaters Friday.

Costner in “Horizon”, who also wrote and directed all four films. The actor backed the saga with his own money, calling it a passion project dating back almost 30 years.

“I know they say I put $20 million of my own money into this movie,” he told GQ magazine. “That’s not true. I have now invested about $38 million in the film. It’s the truth. That’s the real number. »

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However, Costner recently told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t stressed as he anticipated the film’s opening weekend box office numbers.

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“I’ve lived with movies and what happens to them on their opening weekend,” the “Yellowstone” alum said. “If we put that much pressure on it, we’re bound to be disappointed. I’m really happy that ‘Horizon’ looks like what it’s supposed to look like, and that’s what it will look like for the rest of its life .And that’s really important to me in this process.

“Would I like this movie to be a huge success? Of course I would like that. My ego would like that, everyone would like that. But I’m mostly happy that the movie that you and I are talking about looks the way I want it to look.”