Lengthy earlier than Kevin Costner grew to become a Hollywood main man identified for epic dramas and Westerns, his first efficiency was in a church nativity play, the place, armed with a shepherd’s workers, he unknowingly took his first step towards a lifetime of storytelling.
“I used to be a rascal,” the 70-year-old Academy Award winner informed The Christian Submit. “I used to be requested to be a shepherd. I did not even know what appearing was; you simply be a shepherd. You might have this large, lengthy stick, so do not struggle any youngsters with it.”
“I did not undergo life dreaming of being an actor, however the Church was very a lot part of my life,” he added.
Now greater than 4 many years right into a profession that features Academy Award victories for “Dances With Wolves,” classics resembling “Area of Desires” and “The Bodyguard,” and up to date success with Paramount Community’s “Yellowstone,” Costner is returning to the place the place religion and efficiency first intersected.
His new two-hour ABC particular, premiering on Dec. 9, facilities on the Nativity story of Mary and Joseph, mixing dramatic reenactments with Costner’s narration. Produced by Heat Springs Productions and directed by David L. Cunningham, “The First Christmas” explores the historic and religious occasions surrounding Jesus’ delivery, aiming to convey a human perspective to a narrative many really feel they already know.
Based on Costner, his choice to host the particular represented an intentional step into extra explicitly faith-focused storytelling. He pressured the significance of “conserving Christ in Christmas” all through the particular.
“Once I determined to do that, I felt it was actually essential,” the “Horizon” director mentioned. “I make sports activities films, cowboy films and dramas, grownup films, if you’ll, and generally you are not at all times coping with your religion. Individuals could not consider me in that approach. I would not have performed this if it weren’t essential to me, due to how I used to be raised. I used to be raised in a Baptist church.”
Moderately than showing merely as a celeb narrator within the Christmas particular, Costner desires audiences to know his private connection to the topic and, by extension, to see the humanity in Previous Testomony figures.
“Everybody agreed that I ought to clarify my entry into faith,” he mentioned. “I did not need to simply be a well-known face in entrance of a spiritual story. I needed to be very human about it. The story is the story, and I felt that if I humanized myself a bit of bit, perhaps the entry right into a story we expect we all know so nicely turns into extra human, too.”
Engaged on the particular, Costner mentioned, strengthened the tangible realities behind the sacred narrative, particularly the youth and vulnerability of Mary and Joseph.
“It is nothing particular,” he mentioned. “Nazareth, Bethlehem, Herod, these are names that really feel acquainted. Whether or not we uncovered something new is as much as the viewer.”
“What actually stayed with me was reminding myself that this was a pregnant, unwed teenage woman, and Joseph was simply as younger. They have been youngsters on this unbelievable journey,” Costner mentioned. “This story has lived for 1000’s of years, however they have been youngsters, and it was fraught with hazard.”
“Infants have been slaughtered over this difficulty. A proclaimed king was coming in keeping with prophecy. These have been actual occasions, Roman rule, unstable cultures, and the stakes have been extremely excessive. Life wasn’t valued the way in which we consider it at present,” he added.
“They needed to defend their lives and defend their baby, whom we proclaim because the Son of God. For them, it was a struggle for all times at such a younger age. That basically lodged the story for me.”
Costner, who has been within the highlight for many years and seen his private life closely scrutinized, mentioned religion has additionally guided him by means of challenges, notably these that include being a public determine.
“We’re all examined, and I am examined generally in very public methods,” he mentioned. “Your life is type of up for grabs as of late, info, what individuals can say, and it will probably really feel like something goes. Generally you do not have the flexibility to reply again, or you do not need to.”
“I have been examined, however I’ve additionally been propped up by means of my faith,” Costner continued. “You could be in a room with intellectuals who do not imagine, and so they can ask you two or three questions that cease you chilly. However religion is one thing you maintain inside you. You perceive it, and it guides the way you behave, particularly in vital conditions.”
The Christmas particular, he mentioned, is supposed to talk not solely to believers, but additionally to skeptics and the curious.
“I invited the cynic to sit down with us,” Costner mentioned. “They do not should imagine, however they do acknowledge that this story has endured. Will the names we see at present nonetheless be remembered for 1000’s of years, for good or unhealthy?”
Reflecting on what the message of Christmas means to him now, after spending hours immersed within the story of Jesus’ delivery, Costner mentioned he is reminded, greater than ever, of human frailty and wish for a Savior.
“For Christians, it facilities on the delivery of this baby, the promise that He was coming, and the message He would convey of peace, of the way you deal with your neighbor, and the way you reside morally beneath very powerful circumstances,” Costner mentioned. “It is an opportunity to refocus, to recalibrate, to take inventory of the individuals who matter to us.”
“Nowadays, we purchase presents to honor individuals,” he mentioned. “Generally we go overboard, however we’re human. Let’s give ourselves a break. … Simply because you will have ornaments and decorations doesn’t suggest you do not have religion. It doesn’t suggest that God hasn’t had His arms in your life.”
“Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas,” which is able to air on ABC on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. EST and will likely be out there for streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Submit. She could be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
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