How Clint Eastwood humbled Kevin Costner’s ‘big ego’ by showing him the ‘pecking order’ on set

Clint Eastwood humbled Kevin Costner on set while he was about to hit A-list status.

The legendary actor and filmmaker, now 96, showed the former Yellowstone star, now 71, the ‘pecking order’ on the set of 1993 classic film A Perfect World.

Clint’s son Scott Eastwood appeared on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert on an episode released on Monday as he told the ‘legendary’ story of how his father knocked Costner off of his high horse.

As Costner had just won Oscars for Dances with Wolves in the Best Director and Best Picture categories, Scott said: ‘Kevin Costner, sort of going through, you know, the Kevin Costner rise to fame and maybe got a big ego and you know blah blah blah.’ 

Scott went on to describe an incident between his dad and Costner on set of the crime thriller which was directed by his father.

He said: ‘And they are both starring in this movie. My dad is directing it. 

Clint Eastwood humbled Kevin Costner on set while he was about to hit A-list status

The legendary actor and filmmaker, now 96, showed the former Yellowstone star, now 71, the ‘pecking order’ on the set of 1993 classic film A Perfect World

‘And apparently Kevin wouldn’t come out of his trailer for some reason. My dad doesn’t do trailers and things. He’s like “just be on set.”‘

Scott went on to explain that advice that his father had given him about making movies was to be present on set and learn from being there.

He continued the Costner story by saying: ‘Apparently he [Costner] didn’t want to come out of his trailer for some reason.’

Shepard noted that Costner has a reputation for being ‘hard on directors’ which Scott agreed with.

Clint apparently did not take too kindly to Costner staying in his trailer as Scott described: ‘So he just said, “Well send him home then.” And everyone said, “what do you mean? Well he’s in this scene.”‘

However Scott said that his father doubled down and said to send Costner home.

Scott explained: ‘They went to Kevin and said, “Hey you’re going to go home for the day. You don’t need him.” And he said, “What do you mean? I’m in the scene.”‘

However they replied that he was not in the scene anymore adding ‘Clint changed that. So you know that’s the pecking order.’

Clint’s son Scott Eastwood appeared on Dax Shepard’s podcast The Armchair Expert on an episode released on Monday as he told the ‘legendary’ story of how his father knocked Costner off of his high horse

As Costner had just won Oscars for Dancing with Wolves in the Best Director and Best Picture categories, Scott said: ‘Kevin Costner, sort of going through, you know, the Kevin Costner rise to fame and maybe got a big ego and you know blah blah blah’

Scott claims that things quickly changed after that ugly incident.

He said: ‘And so I think the next day he was on set ready to go.’

More recently, Costner has been involved in rumors of on-set drama as he famously left the Yellowstone series in 2024 amid feud rumors with showrunner Taylor Sheridan. 

As a result, Costner’s character Dutton was unexpectedly killed in a murder-for-hire plot in the premiere of Yellowstone’s season five, part two episode.

He died within the first few minutes of the show, after Costner acrimoniously left the series over scheduling conflicts with his Western movie franchise Horizon. 

In 2024, Paramount claimed Costner refused to shoot more episodes, instead promoting Horizon. However, the actor said the streaming service sought contract amendments due to Sheridan’s delayed scriptwriting.

‘There was no script,’ Costner told Deadline. ‘And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s drama] for a year and a half.’ 

He added: ‘I have taken a beating from those f***ing guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong.’

Scott went on to explain that advice that his father had given him about making movies was to be present on set and learn from being there; Costner and Clint seen on set

Clint seen with his son Scott in 2007

Costner also defended Sheridan, claiming, ‘I did not initiate any of those things; they did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.’

However, rumors spread he only wanted to spend one week filming the rest of the episodes. Costner contends that Paramount deceived him.

‘I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,’ he told Deadline.

‘It wasn’t truthful. So now I’m talking a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those.’

More recently, Costner has been involved in rumors of on-set drama as he famously left the Yellowstone series in 2024 amid feud rumors with showrunner Taylor Sheridan 

Costner, who played John Dutton (above) was killed off in the show’s fifth season. It came amid rumors Sheridan, 56, had developed a ‘God complex’ and clashed with the Oscar winner over the direction of his character 

Costner went on to say he was willing to film Horizon around the Yellowstone schedule but the timeline kept changing. 

News first began to spread about him potentially leaving the show in 2023, amid rumors of a dispute between him and Sheridan.

Costner’s attorney, Marty Singer, denied rumors that his client refused to film on the show for more than one week in season five, part two.

‘The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of season five of Yellowstone is an absolute lie,’ Singer said last summer.

‘It’s ridiculous – and anyone suggesting it shouldn’t be believed for one second,’ he emphasized.

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