Burt Lancaster was a breathtakingly beautiful man with the build of an athlete and, as an actor, a nose for top-notch material that he could perfectly serve if not elevate (he has nine perfect movies according to Rotten Tomatoes). He was one of the most beloved movie stars of his generation, and he was deeply mourned when he passed away in 1994. though his death wasn’t sudden. He hadn’t appeared in a film since 1989’s “Field of Dreams,” which wound up being a lovely little swan song for the kid from East Harlem. It’s just that he was Burt Lancaster, and we couldn’t imagine a world without a dashingly determined person like him in it.
Lancaster’s “Field of Dreams” co-star Kevin Costner was quite taken with the leading man when they shot their two scenes together. How could he not be? He’d grown up watching the man swashbuckle and soldier and seduce. But he’d also had a front-row seat to Lancaster in decline. “He was a pro,” said Costner at a press event for the film’s 15th anniversary, “And he struggled in [“Field of Dreams”], and everybody waited for him, and the reason why we waited [is because] how great he was, because it only had to happen once, and he had the magic.”
Costner respected that magic because he’d spent much of his career trying to summon it himself. According to Costner, “I have a fondness for [Lancaster] because he’s obviously a physical actor and that’s been a lot of my stock-in-trade.”
When Lancaster died, Costner was shooting the mega-budget adventure “Waterworld.” That was a tough shoot for a myriad of reasons, but in the midst of holding the set together, Costner found a way to pay tribute to the star.
How Costner summoned his inner Crimson Pirate
At the “Field of Dreams” press event, Costner revealed that he’d performed a stunt that harkened back to Lancaster’s work in films like “The Flame and the Arrow” and “The Crimson Pirate.” “In “Waterworld,” said Costner, “There’s a moment where I hang off the side of the ship and it’s an athletic move, something a gymnast would do, and I did that for Burt. We’d lost him, and it was in homage to him.”
Costner does lots of wild stuff on that trimaran throughout “Waterworld,” but I think the moment he’s referencing arrives in the first 10 minutes, when he raises the sail on the ship and chases down the scavenger who stole his fruit. Big, physical and very funny at times, “Waterworld” feels like a film that would’ve tickled Lancaster. Maybe he would’ve also dug the awesome Universal stunt show that’s still operating at Universal Studios Hollywood, Japan, Singapore and Beijing.
Over 30 years after he left us, the industry’s top stunt professionals are out there doing Lancaster proud, and stars like Tom Cruise are pushing the outside of the envelope in ways that even Burt might’ve found just a tad over the top.
