Long before Kevin Costner became a Hollywood leading man known for epic dramas and Westerns, his first performance was in a church nativity play, where, armed with a shepherd’s staff, he unknowingly took his first step toward a life of storytelling.
“I was a rascal,” the 70-year-old Academy Award winner told The Christian Post. “I was asked to be a shepherd. I didn’t even know what acting was; you just be a shepherd. You have this big, long stick, so don’t fight any kids with it.”
“I didn’t go through life dreaming of being an actor, but the Church was very much a part of my life,” he added.
Now more than four decades into a career that includes Academy Award victories for “Dances With Wolves,” classics such as “Field of Dreams” and “The Bodyguard,” and recent success with Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone,” Costner is returning to the place where faith and performance first intersected.
His new two-hour ABC special, premiering on Dec. 9, centers on the Nativity story of Mary and Joseph, blending dramatic reenactments with Costner’s narration. Produced by Warm Springs Productions and directed by David L. Cunningham, “The First Christmas” explores the historical and spiritual events surrounding Jesus’ birth, aiming to bring a human perspective to a story many feel they already know.
According to Costner, his decision to host the special represented an intentional step into more explicitly faith-focused storytelling. He stressed the importance of “keeping Christ in Christmas” throughout the special.
“When I decided to do this, I felt it was really important,” the “Horizon” director said. “I make sports movies, cowboy movies and dramas, adult movies, if you will, and sometimes you’re not always dealing with your faith. People may not think of me in that way. I wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t important to me, because of how I was raised. I was raised in a Baptist church.”
Rather than appearing merely as a celebrity narrator in the Christmas special, Costner wants audiences to understand his personal connection to the subject and, by extension, to see the humanity in Old Testament figures.
“Everyone agreed that I should explain my entry into religion,” he said. “I didn’t want to just be a famous face in front of a religious story. I wanted to be very human about it. The story is the story, and I felt that if I humanized myself a little bit, maybe the entry into a story we think we know so well becomes more human, too.”
Working on the special, Costner said, reinforced the tangible realities behind the sacred narrative, especially the youth and vulnerability of Mary and Joseph.
“It’s nothing specific,” he said. “Nazareth, Bethlehem, Herod, these are names that feel familiar. Whether we uncovered anything new is up to the viewer.”
“What really stayed with me was reminding myself that this was a pregnant, unwed teenage girl, and Joseph was just as young. They were kids on this incredible journey,” Costner said. “This story has lived for thousands of years, but they were teenagers, and it was fraught with danger.”
“Babies were slaughtered over this issue. A proclaimed king was coming according to prophecy. These were real times, Roman rule, unstable cultures, and the stakes were incredibly high. Life wasn’t valued the way we think of it today,” he added.
“They had to protect their lives and protect their child, whom we proclaim as the Son of God. For them, it was a fight for life at such a young age. That really lodged the story for me.”
Costner, who has been in the spotlight for decades and seen his personal life heavily scrutinized, said faith has also guided him through challenges, particularly those that come with being a public figure.
“We’re all tested, and I’m tested sometimes in very public ways,” he said. “Your life is kind of up for grabs these days, information, what people can say, and it can feel like anything goes. Sometimes you don’t have the ability to answer back, or you don’t want to.”
“I’ve been tested, but I’ve also been propped up through my religion,” Costner continued. “You can be in a room with intellectuals who don’t believe, and they can ask you two or three questions that stop you cold. But faith is something you hold inside you. You understand it, and it guides how you behave, especially in critical situations.”
The Christmas special, he said, is meant to speak not only to believers, but also to skeptics and the curious.
“I invited the cynic to sit with us,” Costner said. “They don’t have to believe, but they do recognize that this story has endured. Will the names we see today still be remembered for thousands of years, for good or bad?”
Reflecting on what the message of Christmas means to him now, after spending hours immersed in the story of Jesus’ birth, Costner said he’s reminded, more than ever, of human frailty and need for a Savior.
“For Christians, it centers on the birth of this child, the promise that He was coming, and the message He would bring of peace, of how you treat your neighbor, and how you live morally under very tough conditions,” Costner said. “It’s a chance to refocus, to recalibrate, to take stock of the people who matter to us.”
“These days, we buy presents to honor people,” he said. “Sometimes we go overboard, but we’re human. Let’s give ourselves a break. … Just because you have ornaments and decorations doesn’t mean you don’t have faith. It doesn’t mean that God hasn’t had His hands on your life.”
“Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas,” which will air on ABC on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. EST and will be available for streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
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