MovieChat Forums > Thirteen Days (2001) Discussion > IF .....Costner was a driving force behi...

IF .....Costner was a driving force behind the making of this film.....

posted 11 years ago by paule-rooney
8 replies | jump to latest

then I'll forgive him first billing, with a character who may or may not have played such a central role as depicted in this film.

Perhaps his name was required (sadly) to draw people to see what should have been a fascinating film anyway.

It is clear to me that the actual "main" characters are Greenwood's JFK and Culp's RFK.

If you knew nothing about this crisis previously, then this film would give you a pretty good idea of how it played out from the American government's perspective.

Scary !!

( Kudos to all concerned that they - apparently - tried to stick close to the known facts and DID NOT try and make a Michael Bay style Pearl Harbor romantic drama out of it. )

[–] denham 11 years ago

I think Costner got in the way of the story. Mick LaSalle got it about right, I'd say:

The Kennedys are the dramatic spine of the movie, but alas, they are not the lead characters. Kenny O'Donnell is the focus, and that becomes a problem as the movie wears on. Kennedy himself seems to notice that Costner is the star -- it gets to the point where he can't make a decision without looking over at him. If Kevin nods back, it's OK.

We get dull scenes of O'Donnell at home, telling the missus about the state of the crisis. We also see him weeping (Costner's big on weeping). In the big scene, when Bobby meets with his Soviet counterpart, director Roger Donaldson actually devotes time to showing O'Donnell sitting outside the meeting, whistling.

Culp, in a fine performance, gives us a Bobby Kennedy in the boyish attack- terrier mode, from the days before John's assassination gave him his mature aura of fatalism and destiny. Yet even the self-possessed Bobby, every now and then, needs a pep talk from Kevin -- I mean, O'Donnell.

The sensitive Kevin scenes undercut the momentum of the last hour and extend the movie's length by about 20 unnecessary minutes. This is a problem, but not a fatal one. It's not even a problem with Costner as an actor, but with an actor's stardom -- and narcissism -- getting in the way.

SFGate

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[–] paule-rooney 11 years ago

Yep, some very fair points raised there : - )

A pity perhaps that the DVD version did not have a "Less Kenny and more Kennedy's" version............at least I am assuming it didn't.

My thoughts would still be that it needed the "presence" of Costner to get the film made or at least market it to a larger audience. A pity, as the story is good enough by itself!

[–] bastasch8647 10 years ago

I had the same problem with Stone's "JFK". Of course Costner had to dominate as lead character Jim Garrison ... BUT ... all that home drama with Spacek and the kids, needing Costner to be home, how he stood them up on a New Orleans Easter dinner ... Great Gawd, it makes me want to waterboard myself.

[–] RothmanMax 8 years ago



nobody lives forever...

[–] Robbjedi 10 years ago

The 'Costner at home motif' is prevalent in JFK and Untouchables as well. All in a very similar way. You could even be forgiven for mistaking one wife for another if you haven't seen them for a while.

[–] Blubonnet_Spearman 9 years ago

There's no way they would have gotten funding without Costner. He was offered the jfk part but thought he was wrong for it. Odonnells role is bigger than real life but the movie needed a witness to the events they could relate to.

[–] ibbi 9 years ago

His place/positioning in the film is a little pointless when it gets down to it. I guess they want to try and add a more low key, 'normal' human element to the thing. I do like that they kept it low key as far as it goes, and didn't go for the big bombastic thing. That's probably why the film didn't do very well, as it got stuck half way between reconstruction and dramatic historical thriller.

____
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u27coFlGXg

[–] heyuactor 9 years ago

Good video there in your signature line.

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