Close your eyes and picture this: You’re on set just outside Moab, Utah; it’s 109 degrees; and you’re dressed in period costume to film Horizon: An American Saga with Kevin Costner himself, when suddenly you hear it: a whispering boy. He is Costner’s boy, you see, and a beautiful one. He plays the role of Nathaniel Kittredge, a character the Today show has described as an “earnest son of a pair of settlers.†But in real life, he is Costner’s actual youngest son, 15-year-old Hayes. Does he have acting experience? No. “He didn’t have a lot of experience, but he’s really beautiful in the movie,†Kevin told Today.
The senior Costner also understands how this looks, saying he would never want to take a job away from another actor, but he did because he just really wanted to hang out with his boy. “I selfishly wanted him with me for the week, two weeks, he was with me,†he said. “And we would drive to the set every day and he would whisper.†What did he whisper? Few can say, for that is the purpose of whispers. And it’s unlikely that on set in Moab you would be able to hear the soft, golden voice of the boy filling his father’s ear over the unforgiving winds rushing through that harsh landscape. The presence of the nepo baby unsettles you — or maybe it’s the heat — so you make your way back to your trailer, away from the boy’s hushed, dulcet tones and the sun’s harsh gaze. This is Costner’s passion project, he’s funding it out of his own pocket, and he has every right to cast the beautiful, whispering boy, who probably works for free. Besides, this very real boy was named for the character Costner is playing in this yet unreleased film, and who are you to question the alchemy of great art? Just then, you shut the door of your trailer behind you and look up into the mirror: You are Sienna Miller. Now open your eyes.