Kevin Costner Turned Down Quentin Tarantino to Star in This Western

As Chapter 1 of Kevin Costner’s epic Western drama Horizon: An American Saga rides toward its theatrical premiere on June 28, 2024, it’s worth reminding viewers that the actor and Oscar-winning filmmaker knows the territory well. For instance, Costner’s 1990 Western Dances With Wolves won Best Picture and Best Director at the 63rd Academy Awards. Over a decade later, Costner followed suit with Open Range, an acclaimed Western action drama that he directed and starred in at the cost of working with popular filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

In addition to nearly starring as the title character in Tarantino’s two-part Kung-Fu revenge taleKill Bill, Costner almost worked with the director again a decade later in Django Unchained. Both times, Costner would have played movie villains, going against type as the heroic protagonist most fans know and love him for. Costner departed the hit Western TV series Yellowstone to pursue his labor of love and make Horizon, proving he has no qualms about walking away from successful projects when seen fit. With Horizon on the brink, it’s time to reflect on Costner’s devotion to the Western genre by chronicling the times he almost worked with Quentin Tarantino in 2003 and 2012, respectively.

What Is Open Rage About?

Released two months before Kill Bill Vol. 1 in August 2003, Open Range is a revisionist Western action film directed by and starring Kevin Costner. The story concerns Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) and his two ranch hands, Charley (Costner) and Mose (Abraham Benrubi). As the trio crosses the American West to deliver cattle and stops to purchase supplies, they are besieged by the greedy landowner Baxter (Michael Gambon) and his hyper-violent henchman, Poole (James Russo). When Mose fails to return, Boss and Charley go on a daring search and rescue mission that ends with a harrowing showdown.

Open Range was a commercial and critical success, earning positive reviews (79% Rotten Tomatoes) and grossing $68.3 million internationally on a $22 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). Costner turned down the role of Bill in Kill Bill to direct and star in Open Range, with the grand irony distinguished in the depiction of violence in each film. Whereas Kill Bill glorifies hyper-violence and revels in the bloodshed, Open Range deconstructs the necessity of violence in movie Westerns, which drew Costner to the film.

According to AMC TV, Costner grew up reading the Western novels by Lauran Paine, who published The Open Range Men in 1990. According to Open Range screenwriter Craig Stopper, the inspiration was to adapt the book and make a movie about, “The evolution of violence in the West. These characters don’t seek violence… But the notion that it’s sometimes necessary… is the Western’s most fundamental ideal.”

Why Did Kevin Costner Turn Down Quentin Tarantino and Kill Bill?

Released in October 2003, Kill Bill Vol 1 is the first chapter in Quentin Tarantino’s bloody Kung-Fu revenge epic. The story concerns Beatrix Kiddo aka The Bride (Uma Thurman), a pregnant assassin assaulted and left for dead by killers hired by her lover and child’s father, Bill (David Carradine). The Bride slays a gauntlet of Bill’s henchmen before taking him one in a moonlit sword fight along the surf. Before Carradine was cast, Warren Beatty was Tarantino’s first choice to play Bill. When Beatty declined due to scheduling problems, Costner was considered next.

Despite expressing a desire to work with Tarantino, Costner turned down the role of Bill after the director offered him the part. Costner’s schedule was too busy to direct and star in Open Range and Kill Bill and opted to do the former. While both parts gave Costner plum acting roles, the ability to realize his creative vision as the director of Open Range gave him more power, control, and artistic leeway than working as a mere actor for hire in someone else’s project.

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As a result, Costner chose to stay in the Western genre rather than work with Tarantino and the Kung-Fu realm for the first time. The deconstruction of Western violence in Open Range as a last resort compared to the abject barbarism of Kill Bill likely played a role in Costner’s decision. However, Kill Bill wasn’t the only time Costner nearly starred in a violent Tarantino revenge film. In 2012, Costner almost played the main villain’s inhumane sidekick, Ace Woody, in Django Unchained.

Costner Almost Played Ace Woody in Tarantino’s Django Unchained

Nine years after nearly starring in Kill Bill, Costner and Tarantino united for the 2012 revisionist action WesternDjango Unchained. The movie follows Django (Jamie Foxx), an escaped slave in the Antebellum South who teams with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to free his captured wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Costner was originally cast to play a villain named Ace Woody in Django Unchained, a Mandingo instructor and the vicious henchman of Southern slave owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Yet, despite expressing interest and entering negotiations to play the role of Ace Woody, Costner was forced to bow out due to scheduling conflicts on other projects, namely Man of Steel and the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. Hatfields & McCoys reunited Costner with Kevin Reynolds, the director of Fandango,Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the ill-fated Waterworld. As such, it’s no surprise that Costner would opt to reunite with his longtime collaborator despite the attraction of working with Tarantino and the star-studded Django cast.

Once Costner was forced to leave Django Unchained, Kurt Russell was cast in his place as Ace Woody. However, Tarantino cut the character from the script and combined Ace Woody with Billy Crash (Walton Goggins, above) to form a composite character. Russell would have reunited with Tarantino following Death Proof, but it was not to be. However, Russell starred as John “The Hangman” Ruth in Tarantino’s 2015 Western movie The Hateful Eight and played stunt coordinator Randy in Tarantino’s 2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Costner and Tarantino have yet to work together despite showing mutual interest on two occasions.

While it’s possible that Costner was just as opposed to playing a disturbingly violent and vengeful character like Bill as he was Ace Woody (on top of scheduling obligations), Django Unchained won two Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay (Tarantino) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Waltz). Costner’s landmark Western Dances With Wolves also won two Oscars, with a glaring difference between the two movies depicted through their different philosophies on violence along the American frontier.

Costner adhered to a similar non-violent theme in Open Range and is bound to continue the motif with Horizon in June 2024. Meanwhile, Tarantino has returned to the drawing board to rethink his tenth and final film after recently abandoning The Film Critic.

Kill Bill is available to stream on Netflix, Open Range is available to rent on Prime Video & Apple TV.