10 Greatest Actors Turned Directors

A victim of his own success, Kevin Costner had the misfortune to release his directorial debut the same year as Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, and the even greater misfortune to win the Oscar over the veteran, leading to much clucking from critics and Scorsese fans alike.

While it was and is a shock that Dances With Wolves triumphed that year, it shouldn’t be taken as a criticism of Coster’s film, which is magnificent. An incredibly bold debut, the neo-western pushes the three hour mark and is sweeping in scope and is clearly a true passion project for the director. In spite of its length and much of the dialogue being in a Sioux dialect, it was a box office hit.

Follow up The Postman was not so good, but Costner went back to the west with Open Range in 2003. It’s a genre he can do as well as about anyone, and this is another elegiac and spacious picture with glorious performances from Robert Duvall and Annette Bening.

Coster hasn’t stepped behind the camera since then, but with the right project, the guy clearly has a lot to say.