I think I have seen every single movie Kevin Costner has ever made. Seriously. Bill has a man crush on Kevin Costner. While his favorite Kevin Costner film in The Postman, we have sat through Waterworld more than once. Plus, you have the classic Field of Dreams. That is why when I got the opportunity to interview Kevin Costner I jumped at it.

I don't get all that star struck by celebrities. Having grown up in a football town, I realize that celebrities are just real people. I thought I was going to be pretty laid back for this interview. However, afterwards, after listen to Kevin's philosophy on life, I walked out a fan. I may have my own crush on him now! Seriously, this is a man I can see myself sitting down with in a restaurant and having a conversation. He's really that normal and that personable.

We were warned right off the bat that Kevin was Old Hollywood and that he had never really talked to bloggers before. I didn't know what to expect. What happened when Kevin walked into the room surprised me instead.

We immediately jumped into asking questions. Kevin actually stopped us and said that we need to say good morning first. He also asked us a few questions about blogging to understand what needed from him. He really put the entire room at ease. (I can also tell you that he has aged well. Wow.)

We started the interview by asking what was the most rewarding part of this movie. His answer may surprise you, because we got to learn about his past and why he does what he does for a living:

I’ve had such a journey in the business. I wanted direction like probably everybody. When I found movies, it was, to me, it was like recess. You know, I wasn’t very good in school, but when that bell went and I could go out and play and make up my own life and do whatever I wanted to do, that’s what I wanted in life. Now that may sound like Peter Pan but that’s what I wanted.

I wanted to be absolutely interested in everything that I did, and that began to happen for me. Movies are a small part of my life. They’re an important part. They’re the tip of the iceberg that the rest of the world sees, but they’re a very small part of my life. The rewarding part of something about McFarland is that, I don’t plan my life so much to the point that I miss something like McFarland, a little story about Latinos and, and a community that I actually participated against in high school.

I played against McFarland in baseball. I lived up in the Central Valley, so the important thing for me was that I was able to participate in this movie and highlight a culture that we see all the time.

There’s little McFarland’s everywhere in America, and I like that. It’s very, for me, it’s a very important part of my filmography to be a part of this movie.

We then asked him if he had to do any training for McFarland USA, since this movie is about cross country running.

Training? I hate running, and so that’s why I enjoyed being the coach. One time, I ran with them, and as you see in the movie, I quit. I played the coach part really well. I sat down and had a Coca Cola. I didn’t have to train for this really. It was pretty spelled out for me in the script, what I would do.

There was so much more about the movie than the finish line. The finish line’s for them. You can give young people something to shoot for and what we realize watching this movie is that when we do, they can somehow exceed beyond their own expectations. That’s actually in front of all our children, and if you really want to get specific about it, it’s actually in front of us, too. Wherever you’re at in your life, you know, there is a chance to do something else in your life. We’re not done. We’re here, you’re doing your job, but what you want to be in your life is still in front of you. The same things that we offer our children, we shouldn’t be so ignorant to not offer up to ourselves.

It was at this point I think most of us in the room became a fan. I totally love his philosophy on life. Seriously, do what you love. Go do it. Seriously. We tell our kids to do this; yet, this is advice we don't normally follow ourselves. Kevin Costner just gave you permission to live your dreams!

Another amazing answer he gave to us is when we asked him about why he chooses to do so many sports movies. I literally picked my mouth up off the floor with his answer (till I thought about what he said):

Well there’s a lot of sports films that come to me that I never do, because they’re not very appealing. They are too much about sports or they’re too obvious. The best ones are about people and there’s less sports in it than you would imagine. The ones that try to make a wall-to-wall sports movie might as well make a documentary or you can watch that on ESPN.

We always are wanting to see ourselves in the movies. If you saw yourself as being Mario Bello, you saw how honest her portrayal was of being shipped around because of her husband into a community that maybe didn’t look like it was gonna be so much fun. The women in our lives are the ones that make everything possible to come home to. I know my wife stood for me when I decided that I would make Black or White.

It was at this point in the interview when he asked how many of us had seen Black or White. Most of us were flying out to LA when this film was released, so we didn't see it yet.

I made it for you and I don’t mean that in a trivial sense at all. I made that movie for you because we’re living in this time where we don’t understand how to talk with each other, so I do hope that you go see Black or White.

For those of you who don't know, Kevin actually put in about $9 million of his own money to get that movie made.

We also asked him what it was like working with the boys. Mr. White in real life was a father figure to them. We also asked if he was a father figure to the boys on set.

I didn’t try to be. I think that I’m in that position where that could happen, so it’s better to let that happen than to just go in and be Yoda. It’s more authentic when they actually come to you, and you’re not just spouting off. You know, nothing was off limits when they would come to me to talk to me. They began to understand that, and I think hopefully appreciate that.

It was important for me, for them to be good. It was important for me to let them know that they needed to be even more prepared for Nicky (the director), who gave them a big shot in their life. They owe it to be as prepared as they can every day. I would talk to them a lot about professionalism and what you do, because there’s plenty of fun, right?

Suddenly the bell rang for them too. It’s recess. They’re out playing too, and they’re getting paid for it. You can get carried away with that and forget that you have a job, and so we talked about that. Then the more comfortable they began, they wanted to know about all the girls I kissed. Of course I told them if you want to keep kissing girls, the best way to do that is to not talk about it.

Lastly, we asked him what the most emotional part of McFarland USA was for him.

The most emotional part? The movie was filled with a lot. One of the highlights of the movie is before the last race. They have gone from not knowing anything about what was possible to sensing that everything was suddenly possible, and what happened? They found themselves in the last race, and they saw the buses drive up that were bigger than their bus. They saw kids come out of the buses in uniforms that were better. The kids were bigger. All of a sudden, they started to shrink back. They started to go back in their minds to McFarland. They suddenly weren’t going to be able to compete at this level. That’s where men, older men and and older woman, will always be at their most useful, to look at them and see the fear in somebody’s eyes, the doubt in somebody’s eyes and to say no, you belong here.

When you make someone feel like they belong, they start to feel like giants. What happened? They won. They continued to win, and it was all because somebody said it’s possible if you’re willing to work at it. I hope somebody talks to my sons or daughters that way should I not be around about what’s possible.

I think that’s what we all want for even ourselves, but more importantly we always want it for our children.

You know, this answer still gets me choked up a week later. Kevin Costner is just a good man. A real man. Somebody who we can relate to and somebody who takes care of others around him. I love his take on life, and I love that he pulled from this movie that we all just want to belong (and sometimes we just need a hand with that).

Did you learn anything new about Kevin Costner?