Kevin Costner knew he had found the right aggressive buzzcut after being shorn in his trailer the morning before starting work on the action thriller Criminal.
But Costner received even more affirmation after e-mailing a picture from the London set to his wife, Christine Baumgartner, and 5-year-old daughter Grace.
“Christine wrote back, 'What happened? Gracie wants to know if you’re beating people up in this movie,' ” Costner recalls. “She profiled me."
Give that kid a scholarship to the FBI Academy, because Costner, 61, definitely takes a rare trip to the dark side as brain-damaged killer Jerico Stewart in Criminal (in theaters Friday). It's evident in the hair.
At first, there's death-row Jerico, who appears with manacles, a shaggy mane and beard. Then there’s the buzzcut Jerico receives before an experimental procedure which places the memories of an assassinated CIA agent (Ryan Reynolds) into his brain, a government effort to glean information about a planned terrorist attack.
The edgy look was a hot topic of debate on the set. Director Ariel Vromen wanted to go hard with the hair. Film financiers wanted the star to look like Kevin Costner and waited outside of his trailer on haircut day to see how he would emerge.
“In the movie financing world, there are a couple of funny rules. The leading man needs to have hair, not shaved hair, and no facial hair,” says Vromen. “I said, 'We’re going to shave him and keep the facial hair.' ”
But the financiers were pleased there was still some Costner on top.
“Kevin looked like a Sons of Anarchy guest star,” Vromen says. “But leaving some hair there also makes him looks like a cool soccer player.”
Costner kept the intimidating look under a hat when walking around London in his off-hours.
"People would still look at me like, 'I feel like I know that scary guy,' " says Costner. "I don't think you cosmetically try to look good but look right. There's a difference."
Costner followed in spirit as he played the escaped, off-kilter Jerico, who growls and kills with the bloody wounds of his brain procedure showing on his skull. In one scene, a handcuffed Jerico pulls the metal off a luxury car door with his mouth to make a weapon.
Coincidentally, Costner is also in theaters as Superman’s father and moral compass in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. "It is a bit schizophrenic," Costner acknowledges of the two roles. Further, his first Criminal scene involved assaulting Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman.
“We shook hands and I basically started taping her hands to a headboard,” says Costner. “I don’t play nice with her.”
Costner was able to switch the troubled character off when he went home (“I’m not a method actor, so I don’t carry that all night long”). But his nasty 'do stayed with him, even when he flew back to Los Angeles and his family.
“They have gotten used to Dad’s different looks, but that was a little hard on the kids,” says Costner. “I try to take the drama away and wear the sock hat. And I turn into a cat burglar right in front of their eyes.”
