Big Ego, Big Budget, Big Disaster
Waterworld (1995)
Inducted 2018
In the mid-1990’s, Kevin Costner was flying high in Hollywood. He could make any film he wanted and he used that power to make Waterworld. Kevin’s ego would get the best of him, flushing millions of Universal’s dollars down the toilet into a plodding, bloated mess of a film.
Costner’s spending on the film would have shocked even Elizabeth Taylor, though while she spent thousands flying in Chasen’s famous Chili during the production of Cleopatra, he would spend millions on CGI to cover up his receding hairline. Literal disasters occurred on set, making things worse. The film actually tore apart Costner’s friendship with his producing partner Kevin Reynolds.
Rumors from the set began to trickle out about the vast amounts of cash that were being spent to make this mess of a film. Hollywood insiders began referring to the film as “Fishtar” and “Kevin’s Gate” in reference to past legendary failures. Despite Universal’s hope that they’d have another Dances With Wolves on their hands, they got another Cleopatra. The company had bet so much on this film that they even staged an elaborate stunt show at their Hollywood theme park that bizarrely still exists today. Kevin Costner’s career would never again reach the heights it had in the early 90’s, despite his attempts to suggest that the film eventually made a profit. Of course, Cleopatra eventually made a profit, but it still almost bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox. Universal Studios wouldn’t suffer the same fate, but they weren’t exactly ecstatic about the film’s performance- or Kevin’s either.
