Kevin Costner Was Cut From A Major Movie Early In His Career

Kevin Costner became a huge star in the 1980s and 1990s. He embodied a good, dependable All-American kind of guy, often playing golden boys in sports movies like "Bull Durham," "Tin Cup," and "Field of Dreams." He also has a passion for Westerns, winning Academy Awards for his sweeping romance between a Union solider and Native American woman, "Dances with Wolves." In recent years, he starred in "Yellowstone," a modern drama about a powerful ranching magnate. Most recently, he released his passion project, "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1," which flopped at the box office, but gained some traction on VOD. 

Like many up-and-coming actors, Costner's career began with a lot of bit parts or Z-grade movies with shoestring budgets. There was one role that could have opened the door to his eventual stardom earlier, but unfortunately, his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. "The Big Chill" was directed by Lawrence Kasdan and co-written with Barbara Benedek. Kasdan had just penned the juggernauts "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back," and his dramedy follows former college friends reuniting at their friend's funeral after he takes his own life. Famously, "The Big Chill" features a rocking countercultural era soundtrack with artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones. 

Costner was cast as the central friend, Alex. His character was supposed to be surrounded by a stellar ensemble of actors including Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Goldblum, and while those folks ended up starring in the movie, Costner's face is never shown. He does appear in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of his dead body, and several scenes were shot that would have given us more insight into his character, but while a few details survive about those scenes, they've never been made available on any DVD or Blu-ray special features.

Jeff Goldblum once described one of Kevin Costner's major scenes in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment:

"We shot this whole flashback ... when we're all together in our college days ... We're all making a Thanksgiving dinner. Kevin Costner's character was in the kitchen with a sharp object — that finally he did himself in with — about to cut the turkey. And he was going to cut this perfect turkey. It was poetical, and metaphorical. He's about to cut this perfect turkey, and we were all there kind of having a good time, and I think Glenn Close's character says, 'Hey Alex. We need you in here.' And he's there, and he can't bring himself to cut the turkey. It's whole, and it's kind of perfect. And he doesn't want to do it."

There are pluses and minuses to including this scene in "The Big Chill." Without it, we only understand Alex through what other characters say about him. We learn he turned down a prestigious fellowship to stick it to the man, only to feel left behind by his friends who went on to their own successes. An off-hand line refers to his induction notice, inferring that he became eligible for the draft. It's likely he served in Vietnam and returned with physical and/or psychological scars.

By not showing Alex, the audience can imagine him as someone they know, and how their own friendship circle might be affected by such a tragedy. On the other hand, the scene would have let the audience visually witness exactly who Alex was and the depth of his internal conflicts. Kevin Costner's performance would have likely communicated the insecurity and regret that weighed heavily on him, even for just a brief moment.

The effective removal of Kevin Costner as Alex didn't stop "The Big Chill" from becoming a celebrated ode to the turbulence of friendship and nostalgia for the promise of youth, but Alex's looming yet largely unseen presence still leaves us wondering what might have been. In the final presentation of the movie, he operates as a metaphor for the fractures of adulthood, where friends splinter and the pressures of jobs and keeping up appearances can bog you down. 

Even though Costner had his scenes cut from "The Big Chill," his collaboration with Lawrence Kasdan opened the door for his breakout role in "Silverado," a Western about four maverick cowboys who band together to save a town under siege by a corrupt sheriff and greedy rancher. /Film writer Jeremy Smith has referred to "Silverado" as "a satisfying, old-school Western with a touch of that film brat magic. It's a Western made by a Boomer who always wanted to make a Western." Today, Kevin Costner regards his role as Jake in that movie as "perfect" because it is more zippy than the laconic characters he usually plays. It worked out in the end that his big break would end up being a Western, since it started his love affair with the genre that would last for decades.