Kevin Costner really hopes you'll go see his new movie Black or White. Not so the film can put up big numbers at the box office, not so that his investment in it can be returned (he put up $9 millon of his own money to see the movie made), not even because it features one of his more memorable performances as an actor to date. The Hollywood icon wants you to watch his film, which centers on a custody battle over the fate of a young, bi-racial girl named Eloise, simply because it's one he feels deserves to be seen.
Black or White features Costner as Eloise's weathered and vulnerable grandfather, a recently widowed lawyer who drowns himself in drink and is struggling to care for Eloise (played by the charming Jillian Estelle). The actor turns in a performance that is sympathetic and delightfully entertaining. Longtime friend and producing partner Mike Binder came to him with the script for the movie and it really resonated with Costner. He tells Guideposts.org:
"[Mike] wrote about four screenplays for me after The Upside of Anger…and I said no to all of them. They were all pretty good too, but for some reason they didn’t speak out loud to me. I read this and I just I wasn’t afraid of any of it and I was thrilled by all of it in a sense that it felt honest."
The actor, who nabbed a producing credit on this film, shared that while Hollywood may be afraid to tackle the sensitive topic of race on the big screen, he felt a responsibility to give the audience a hard look at an issue everyone deals with.
"We knew before we started to act this that there was an honesty and a truth to it," says Costner."This was a miracle that we were able to talk about this subject and go right to the bone and yet have this be the kind of a movie that people are going to want to talk about. There are speeches in this movie that I think people will never ever forget and people that watch this will say, 'I wish I said that.'"
One such speech is delivered by Costner during a court hearing over who should retain custody of young Eloise. While her grandmother (played by the brilliant Octavia Spencer) can offer her family, community and maternal love, Costner's character provides financial stability and has been a constant presence in her life. Choosing sides isn't easy for the court, for Eloise or for anyone viewing the film, and that sense of fairness was something Costner strived for when helping to get the movie made.
