 Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon to celebrate the advanced screening of Open Range. It starts, obviously, Kevin Costner, but someone near my heart, which is my husband, Bill Cohen, your presence here today is a tremendous contribution to the story of the arts in the state of Wisconsin. Thank you. Without you, we wouldn't be able to talk about the presence and the importance of the arts in the state of Wisconsin. So thank you very much for coming tonight. This afternoon, we're going to have a simple question and answer session. We have a time limit, which our ladies will sort of help you on mind, if you will. And with that, I'd like to introduce Kevin Costner and my husband, Herb Cohen. I noticed in the press release that you've been friends for, I think, roughly over a decade. Just curious how the two of you ever got to know each other. You come from pretty different sides of the world. You're from Las Vegas. And we both attended a charity event at Shadow Creek, Bill, of course. I think that's what it was. It was. It's an unusual friendship, and not in a sense that one can't make sense of what friendship is really about, which are the important things, or kind of respecting after each other. But it's unusual, because I know that I say things to Herb, and sometimes I look back at him and he's just shaking his head at me. And so it's kind of unusual that way, I think, that I actually amuse him sometimes. But it goes a little deeper than that. Kevin, what do you think of the Cullard and Weillhart centers and the adult forces in the area? Well, number one, I've been around the world and I have not been to a place any more beautiful than this. There's a certain serenity here. There's a sense of small town, and yet a sense of a global experience in terms of just the fact that you take your art seriously. And then you actually see what other people are doing around the country, and you see that if they want to catch up, the way they're going to do it is you have to come up here and let them see how Herb and Natalie are doing things. Kevin, can you talk about the movie, what it's about? Well, I could have, but I've been here a long time and you notice my movies are long and I don't know. I don't know how to talk about them in short little bits, but it is about the West, obviously. You see the hats and you see the guns and you see those things, the trappings that go with the Western, but it's an experience. It's about friendship, it's a coat of honor. It's about our ancestors and the problems that they had to deal with. And you find a way to wrap that up in a form of entertainment, not in a documentary, but in a form of entertainment where men and women will see themselves in the characters. Where was the movie shot? How long did it take to make the movie? Well, we shot in Calgary and it's taken me over a year to make the movie, but we spent roughly 63 days shooting principal photography. We'll show on his next movie. But he, you know, I'm not a presence, but as a man and as an actor, and that doesn't always translate on screen, but it does in his instance. And there wasn't, I managed to keep stuffing him into the movie because he looked good. What is he like about West ends? All right, this is a double interview here. I'm starting to stutter here. A little bit. Can I get a glass of water for a second? My mouth is just completely really dry. It dries those bones behind us. Pardon me? What was it like to be part of the movie? Did you get coaching? I'm damn wrong. I knew it was going to be like this. It certainly was some coaching. I had to have some coaching. And it actually was a thrilling experience to be a part of it. I have never seen anything, and this is saying something coming out of the booth as well, but I've never seen anything that little organized. There's so many disciplines, so many skills brought to bear at one point in time. And then to keep all those skills focused and attentive and not falling apart. I mean, it's a tremendous coming from goodness, I understand what it takes to organize something like that. And it was just a big nephew. I wouldn't suspect I'd ever appreciate that, but that's what moved me. Do you have the acting problem now? Well, you know, curiously, the two of us, even though we're 16 years apart, we have a somewhat similar background. When I went to college, I was determined not to go into business, but rather into the theater and acting. I spent two years of my life as a poet and as an actor during the theater. I eventually made the decision after marriage to go into business. Kevin, on the other hand, went to California State University in Florida and majored in business. But while he was doing this, five nights a week were devoted to acting lessons. He chose to go into acting because he happened to run into a fellow by the name of Richard Burton one day coming back from Mexico. And Burton persuaded him if he really were interested in acting, that's what he had to do. Unfortunately, I never ran into Richard Burton. And that's the difference between the two of us. He's the actor and the star and I'm the businessman. But now that you've run into Kamikaze, are you ready to check business and follow your poet in acting? For some reason or another, I like my security. Oh, that's aggressive, people do that. Where did the story grow, but where did you come from? It was from a novel, and I never read that novel and I wasn't even aware that it was initially started working on the script with the writer and then I found that it was, but I never bothered to read it at that point. I just kept going in the direction that I wanted to take it. This cause is important to you. Why did you decide to do a fundraiser to raise money for this particular cause? The, what's important to me is friendship and how friendship works is just as important. In this instance, I didn't decide to do that, but what happened was I was able to, through our friendship and through the work that we did together, change the financial situation of two different organizations just by this movie. When you start a movie, it's a lonely point. You're all by yourself. You're wondering if you should make this movie. Westerns aren't being made for the most part. They're not very good. It's not deemed to be commercial. And so, just by myself, I had to have that own private, little fight and again, you know, you're always a little bit, I've always feel like I'm a little bit out of step because here I am making a Western, but the great thing about following your own intuition and following your own dreams and taking care of your friendships are, a year and a half later, here we are. I have a movie that I feel really proud about. I'm with my friend who I'm really proud of and we're able to take both of the things that we do and combine them together and make a difference in two organizations that are trying to make a difference for somebody else. And that really is much more important than the movies itself in a way. It's just the circle of how things, how we can all interact and how we all are. We're not just one thing. Herp certainly is not just a businessman. He's a lot of things to a lot of people. He's an ambassador for the state, for the city. Sheboygan, for his own community, Kohler. There's no place in the world that he talks about and his face lights up the way it does when he's talking about this place and Natalie is the same. They're proud of this place and so really the thing that brought us here isn't any business. So if you've been looking for a house in this area or what you said. I have the three best houses you can imagine. I can stay them any time I want. I can stay them anytime I want. You know, it's like stupid. And just talk about what it means to you to have this place. Incheboygan, I think. You know, I didn't suggest it. That it comes to me. This is extraordinarily ungenerous, but it wasn't my throat, right? But, obviously, it means very good for me and I think for this community. Can you describe how much money you raised from this event that we used? We shared 50-50 after expenses. We met it over $16,000. And that's really, really significant. We raised that much money that quickly in this community to mark them. So about at least $80,000. And once it's there, they will determine how it's used. Therefore, excuse me, we did. We don't discuss that. It's a topic of discussion and disappointment. I will tell you that Kevin and his fiancee, Christine, have two of the best little swings. But in all of them, and I saw Christine in a drive this morning, that was longer. And this was a number, remember this, number 15 on the straight scores. Remember when the pros play next year. I'll guarantee you, no probe will be in the position that she was in after a drive on number 15. It was incredible. But the two of them have a... She can cook. How did she decide to cast her in your movie and the role to give her discipline? Well, it's just sometimes in your life you feel like there's something you can offer somebody that's offered so many, so much to... You know, sometimes the person that does a lot gives a lot. We think they have everything, and what can we possibly give them that they haven't had. But really, you always start with your friendship. And there was this... I've known of Herb's love of theater, and I think that he... I think his business is theater. I think it's a classy... One of the classiest businesses in all of America, in the world. Because there's a theatrics to it. There's a drama to how his company works and operates. There's a certain poetry to how he treats the people that work for him in terms of its... It's a 100-year-old plus company. And it's a visionary. It was a visionary company then, I can't even understand the damn commercials. All I know is that's my friend's stuff. You figure it out. But it's a... There was a point in time where I just felt like for our own personal reasons that if he wanted to come up and could come up and be with me, that I would have him. I also... I thought he would be good. And you have to understand that I don't mess around with... There's not anything I would do to help someone, but there's some things in our life that has a sacred quality and I feel that about the movies. And I would not have had her in the movie if I didn't think that he could help the movie. If there wasn't a way that he would lend something to it. I just... It's the one thing I just don't mess with. Would you like to see a future project set here in Wisconsin at some point? We were actually talking about it today. You know, you guys have a big secret up here. It's really beautiful. I can't speak to the winners. I hear they're really severe, but the two times I've been here, I have been more than impressed. I thought if I could think back in my childhood, if I could have been raised somewhere, I thought that this would be a place where I could wish that I could have been raised, given all the kind of activities that I actually find interesting besides school. Well, Robert's a world-class actor and he's our star of our movie and I think that if you're going to see the movie, are you seeing it tonight? Well, you're just going to have to just sit there in the dark, you're going to enjoy a very dramatic performance by not only him, but a net-binning and a friend of mine, Michael Jeter, who died a couple of months ago and he's an actor that I've described to other people as Walter Brenna and Ward Vaughn of our generation and we've lost him. So I dedicated the movie to my parents and in special memory to Michael Jeter. So I think hopefully you'll enjoy Robert the way I do and why I picked him to be in the movie. Kevin, you play a lot of those. You play a lot of idealistic characters. Heroes sometimes, sometimes not, but always idealistic. Why not so many villains? A lot of agnors say that you'd rather play a villain. Yeah, listen, villains are fun to play. I played one in 3,000 miles to Graceland. I played a less-than-honest guy in a perfect world. So I'm not really afraid to go into that thing and take roles to just prove I can act. You know, sometimes a sports team, we can look at the five guys and there's one 6-11 and he says he wants to be the guard and he handles the ball really well. You say, I know, but in this instance on this team you should probably be our center and let the guy who's 5'5 be the guard. And I say that in a simple metaphor, but it's really our analogy. I actually don't understand either word. But I say that simply because when I produce, as I do, I produce and I direct, I think it's important for you to know where you fit the best in a film. It's not so important to go out there and just prove something that, oh, I'm a great character or I can be the, I know I can play characters and I play them at home, but it's not always in the best interest of a movie if I go out and play, there's a thing that I do in the movies and it's important that I recognize that. Any opportunity that I have to be flashy or do something different, if it fits that movie, I guarantee you I will take it. Well, I don't know that it has changed. It's always been important to me whether I have or haven't to make the best movies of my generation. That's a goal for myself. Now whether I have or haven't is really, that's up for other people to decide, but I never take a movie without thinking it has a chance to be great and that always starts with the writing. A movie has a chance to win great awards. I think this is a serious movie that is highly entertaining and I think that Disney had a lot of courage in picking it up. It's a smaller budget movie. It's just over $20 million and if you've been following the price of movies these days, that's probably not even their catering budget. But I think it's a I think what you'll see is world-class actors lending their craft to one of our greatest genres, the western. You see Annette Benning, Sir Michael Gambon, Robert DeVall, Michael Jeter and I think my hopes are that when you see the movie you'll realize how great, for instance, Annette Benning is to be in this movie to do it without makeup to a real beautiful woman our generation has had and I've said before. So I always have high hopes but the first obligation of a movie is that you don't is that you feel like you've got your money's worth the next biggest thing that can happen as a result of this movie is that you're willing to talk about it and share it with somebody when you walk out of the theater just the same way when you read a good book or hear a wonderful piece of music you have the desire to share that. Are you in a movie? What part does it feel like and where can you find it? You have to look fairly hard. This is a role that Kevin created when it was originally written. It was silent, somewhat obscure and made it into I appear six times I didn't know that I didn't know that That's an actor that knows how often he's in and how many times he's in He was a true actor. Fortunately the once I hit him I thought it was awfully good it was a great gun battle but he had so many shots of gun battle as you'll see I can understand why I hit the floor It's like a legion of lawyers where I might go or step I might the owner of a cafe collect sloppy dirty dishes I insisted the share of pay two bits for his coffee when Mr. Cosner asked me to be in the movie last June a year ago I thought he was crazy I'm a working man Kevin He wanted me to just flat off and be in this movie and he kept after me and finally I said okay two conditions meet one of them and I'll do it he said either you let me ride a horse I've read the certs I was to and I've been a reader and I wanted to ride a horse so let me ride a horse or let me shoot someone he said he said I can do the latter before we're really tough so that's what happened so once you the first thing he shot with me actually I shoot someone with a double barrel shot from three feet don't tell him everything hey tell him you got the girl make him pay to see it I just wanted him up there and there was a lot of reasons and I just started to try to put him in spots and it's a small thing but it makes no mistake and I'm really proud of him and he's really good in it and it was all we could do but it was really professional how he approached it and he showed up and he came up on his own and understood everything interesting thing about her but one of the really great things that we all have in the friends that we call our best friends is he gets it what I wanted him to do and how it was going to have to be and it was like it was nice question we'll get you too I just wanted to ask you what do you think you're ready to go I think that it could put a smile on your face in a sense and maybe it's curious and people talk about a circus going on out there and I wouldn't disagree with any of the words that people would choose but I do believe that when we're successful in our life that we're supposed to look outside our self and when you look outside you're looking at your fellow citizens you're looking at your community and public service is probably the highest form of service that one can do in their life save, raise a wonderful family a responsible children that will contribute to the world also to when you're successful you're supposed to step outside of yourself and want to serve all you hope is that the people that do that that their intentions are pure that they're good that they're involved and I'm interested to hear the dialogue you know this isn't the sixth grade where you vote for your friends you know this is real and things are at stake and and that's it's going to be interesting to see what he has to say but I'm not surprised when a man or woman wants to step outside of themselves and go into public service I don't know where I don't know where the notion came that people who are in Hollywood don't have a brain they happen to be some of the smartest singularly the biggest community that gives money around the world there's no other group than actors that gives more money there's no other group in the world that raises more money than actors do for causes and when they somehow end up on the other side of a political issue we're somehow expediently stupid we're carrying individuals in many many instances who have made this world better so you follow up to yourself like her view of the group tell them what you're talking about this is Hollywood your friendship and commitment friendship because without the friendship of Herb Colbert and Kevin Costner none of us would be here tonight and commitment to sponsors and all of you who have so generously donated your time your services and your money have all gone together to make this event a wonderful rousing success so give yourself a hand raised over $160,000 to benefit equally this wonderful world and I'd like to introduce you to the star of my show Old Cafe Man himself Mr. Herb Colbert I say Kevin 120 miles north-west to the foothills of Canadian Rockies and on to an Indian reservation where Kevin was given permission to build a town of Harmonville and this was the most magnificent I can believe and the entire experience was an education of this businessman truly appreciated I've never seen such organization I've never seen such Indian work roles would you believe that lunch at 9am that's the way we work and it was a remarkable coming together of discipline and so many different disciplines I couldn't I couldn't imagine how they did it but they did it to perfection everyone maintained their focus everyone was proud to have to tell you a few little things about this man perhaps you don't he's 16 years my junior he was born in 1955 he was born the son of a man who was a ditch digger and he was an electric service repairman for the utility in California he was called Big Chill he came to see the Big Chill we'll have to search for Kevin Costner the fact of the matter is he ended up on the cutting room floor what you see him as in the Big Chill is a corpse fortunately his next picture Silverado was much more norworthy but he went on from there and he's created with open range 21 different pictures many of these pictures and I'd like to tell you something Kevin has said about a hero real heroes but went out in the end because they stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments it's my pleasure to introduce a hero my friend Kevin Costner the secret you guys have up here driven to Sheboygan and it's you are living a beautiful life if I wanted to grow up I would have chosen this place now that I've seen it paid tonight you paid for a beautiful cause to help other people go forward thank you very much for that of their state and their town and their ambassadors for Sheboygan all around the world when they're talking about their hometown