8 Kevin Costner Movies You Won’t Want to Miss
Kevin Costner takes on the role of high school cross country coach
But even if you’re not an endurance athlete, there is plenty to like about McFarland USA—and Costner. In the meantime, the actor, who turned 60 this year, has a long list of other films aimed at older family audiences.
In the 2001 drama Thirteen Days, Costner plays real-life political aide Kenny O’Donnell who served as the right hand man to American President John F. Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. While the filmmakers have been accused of taking creative license with his character, Costner still captures the essence of the man in the middle of a high stakes political game.
Costner and Ashton Kutcher team up in the movie The Guardian. Costner plays a Coast Guard veteran who lost his crew in a tragic accident. Now he’s been reassigned to teach at the department’s elite training facility where he meets the cocky recruit Jake Fischer (Kutcher). While the men’s personal lives, which involve drinking, sex and profanities, may be a deterrent for some viewers, their commitment to save others will make you glad if you’re ever lost at sea.
In Swing Vote, Costner plays an employment-challenged, beer swigging single dad who lives in a ramshackle trailer on the edge of town. He could care less about his civic responsibility or any other kind of responsibility for that matter. But his socially conscious daughter (Madeline Carroll) takes the right to vote very seriously and registers her dad to cast his ballot in the upcoming presidential election. Unfortunately this film is full of swearing thanks to Costner’s character but the script packs a powerful message about voter apathy.
Costner plays a more admirable father figure in the 2013 movie Man of Steel. As the earth-bound dad of Clark Kent, he’s anxious to keep his adopted son’s identity a secret—especially since he is afraid his Kansas neighbors won’t be ready to accept an alien in their midst,
Chris Pine takes on the role of superspy Jack Ryan in the movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. But the new recruit is only as good as the people behind him. In this movie Costner plays CIA agent Thomas Harper who convinces Ryan to join the team as an undercover agent working as a bank analyst. While Pine’s character experiences all the jitters of a newbie on the force, Harper is the levelheaded agent who mentors him through his first mission.
Audiences have to wade through a lot of language to get to the end of Draft Day but you’ll never look at these events the same way again. Costner plays Sonny Weaver Jr., the general manager of the Cleveland Browns who is facing his first draft day. He’s getting plenty of advice on who he should snap up for his first round pick from fans, the team’s owner, his head coach and even his mother.
In one of Costner’s latest movies, he has moved past the role of father figure and now stars as a grandpa in the film Black or White. Before his wife’s death, Elliot Anderson and his wife were raising their biracial granddaughter Eloise. But after the funeral, Eloise’s other grandmother makes a case for taking Eloise home with her. Unwilling to give up the little girl, Elliot has to go to court to retain his guardianship in this compelling story about family relationships.
