AQUAMAN ISN’T THE first watery hero to make a splash on an Empire cover. Nearly 30 years ago, we did a literal deep dive into Kevin Costner flop Waterworld, including a blow-by-blow account of the unfolding cinematic disaster, decorated with a curious choice of pull-quote (“We love Kevin Costner, he’s handsome and nice” — Shopkeeper, Hawaii).
There’s a report on rumours from the set (one suggests Costner bought himself a portable solarium to get an all-over tan, “only to burn parts of a sensitive nature”), and then a somewhat testy Q&A with the man himself, offering some frank reflection. The film’s reported $150 million budget — the most expensive film ever made at the time — was, Costner acknowledges, “an embarrassing amount of money to be spent on a movie, in a sense.” Ouch.