‘Yellowstone’ Star Kevin Costner Admits He ‘Didn’t Know How to Behave’ After Winning 2 Oscars for ‘Dances With Wolves’
Yellowstone star Kevin Costner is currently making headlines as the lead of TV’s most-watched drama. For his first foray into being the star of a TV series, Costner plays fifth-generation rancher and family patriarch John Dutton on Taylor Sheridan’s popular neo-western. And the show has found more success than the cast and crew could ever have dreamed of.
But for the vast majority of his career, Costner was nowhere near television. Since the early 1980s, he’s been an A-list movie star and director. He even won two Oscars back in 1991 for the epic western Dances With Wolves.
‘Yellowstone’ star Kevin Costner will ‘never forget’ Oscar night in 1991
Costner directed and starred in Dances With Wolves, which premiered in theaters on November 9, 1990. It was so well-received that the film earned a whopping 12 Oscar nominations — and ended up winning seven.
The film took home trophies for Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Costner took home the award for Best Director. And, the film became the first western to win the Academy Award for Best Picture since Cimarron in 1931. After all was said and done, Dances With Wolves was one of the most-honored films of 1990.
“It’s very easy for people to trivialize what we do, (saying) that if it’s such a big deal how come no one remembers last year’s winner?” Costner said when picking up the Best Picture Oscar along with his producing partner Jim Wilson, per The LA Times. “I will never forget what happened here tonight. My family will never forget. My Native American friends will never forget.”
Kevin Costner admits he ‘didn’t know how to behave’ after winning 2 Oscars
In a recent special Yellowstone edition of Entertainment Weekly, Costner looked back on his Oscar wins that night in 1991 and admitted that he had no idea there was an expected protocol for winners.
“I didn’t even really know how to behave after I won. I caught a little bit of flak because I didn’t go to any of the after parties. I didn’t know you were supposed to. I thought people that went there knew all those people. I didn’t realize you [were supposed to] make the rounds,” Costner confessed.
The ‘Yellowstone’ star has ‘a lot of special memories’ from the night he won his Oscars
Despite skipping out on the parties, Costner still has special memories of that night. Before he returned to the awards ceremony in 2022 as a presenter, he took a moment to reflect on his Oscar wins in an Instagram post that featured a pic of Costner holding two trophies on that night more than 30 years ago.
“I have a lot of special memories of the Oscars, but nothing tops this night in 1991 with Dances With Wolves,” Costner wrote in the caption. “Really excited to be at the @theacademy Awards presenting this weekend. Good luck to all the nominees—savor this tremendous recognition!”
Dances With Wolves tells the story of Civil War lieutenant John Dunbar, who befriends wolves and meets a Lakota tribe after being assigned to a remote western outpost. Fans can watch the epic western with a subscription to HBO Max, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. New episodes of Yellowstone air Sundays on the Paramount Network.
