The Steven Spielberg Advice Kevin Costner Ignored — And the Biggest Flop of His Career

Kevin Costner had a shot at dodging the Waterworld disaster if he had just listened to Steven Spielberg. Decades later, the same stubborn streak may have helped blow up his time on Yellowstone. Let’s talk about how those two storms line up.

Spielberg tried to throw him a life preserver

According to Waterworld co-writer Peter Rader, Costner went straight to Steven Spielberg for advice before rolling cameras. Spielberg, speaking from experience after nearly sinking his own career on Jaws, basically told him: do not film on open water if you can avoid it. Get the few ocean shots you need with a second unit, then do the rest in a tank or on a stage. Clear, simple, coming from the guy who survived the shark.

Costner ignored it, and the ocean won

Costner pushed for realism anyway and shot almost entirely at sea. Nature did what nature does: tropical storms tore through sets, rewrites piled up, and a planned 96-day shoot stretched to 157 grueling days. The budget, initially a reasonable-for-1995 $65 million, swelled to a jaw-dropping $175 million for a wholly original movie. Universal bet big; the ocean bet bigger.

The numbers, in one place

• Original budget: $65 million. Final production cost: $175 million.
• Shoot length: planned 96 days, expanded to 157 days on open water.
• Destruction and delays: storms wrecked sets; rewrites slowed everything down.
• Media nicknames before release: Kevin's Gate and Fishtar. Not subtle.
• Comparisons that sting: Independence Day arrived a year later for less than half that price; Waterworld reportedly cost more than three times the combined budget of George Miller's original Mad Max trilogy.
• Box office: opened at #1, $264 million worldwide, which sounds decent until you learn marketing ran another $65 million and studios only keep a slice of global grosses. Translation: it never got close to breaking even in theaters.
• Reception: critics praised the scope but dinged the story and characters; four Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture and Worst Actor.

Fast-forward to Yellowstone: a different kind of storm

More recently, The Hollywood Reporter detailed friction on Yellowstone that, allegedly, got physical. Sources told THR that Costner, star and executive producer, clashed with co-star Wes Bentley during a heated scene. The gist: Costner wanted a different take that veered from creator Taylor Sheridan's script; Bentley pushed back, saying he signed on for Sheridan's vision, not Costner's. Things escalated.

'Kevin didn't like that, and he lunged at him,' an eyewitness told THR. No punches were thrown, but others stepped in and separated them.

One source said the cast largely sided with Bentley, which reportedly irritated Sheridan. From there, Costner and Sheridan butted heads, it got awkward, and production paused. Another insider summed it up: everything felt different after that. Bentley's representatives later framed it as a work-related argument during an emotional, physically demanding scene. Costner's team did not comment.

All of this landed as Yellowstone's five-season run wrapped in December 2024. The show started as a phenomenon and ended with a lot of off-camera noise. Costner announced his exit in June 2024 via Instagram, leaving fans split on whether he bailed at the right time or torched a good thing.

So what do we make of the Costner pattern?

On Waterworld, Spielberg gave him the map and he sailed straight past the warning buoys. On Yellowstone, reports paint a star used to steering the ship, running up against a creator who wasn’t handing over the wheel. Different decades, similar energy.

Should he have listened to Spielberg and saved Waterworld from itself? And was his Yellowstone exit a smart reset or a self-inflicted mess? Drop your takes in the comments — the spicier the better.

If you want to revisit the evidence: Waterworld is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and Yellowstone is on Paramount+.