Kevin Costner on Channel 5's Hatfields and McCoys

Based on a gripping true story, Channel 5's latest US import, Hatfields and McCoys tells the tale of Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy. The two close friends are comrades during the Civil War but they return to their neighbouring homes to increasing tensions, misunderstandings, and resentments that soon explode into all-out warfare between the two families. Sounds pretty exciting to us! 

As the hostilities grow, friends, neighbours, and outside forces join the fight, bringing the two states to the brink of another Civil War!

Not only does movie legend Kevin Costner produce the show but he also stars as Devil Anse Hatfield. You can read what he has to say about the show below:


You’ve been in westerns before – what appeals to you about this time period and why did you decide to make a TV series rather than a movie?
 

Well the last part of the question is that, when you have a story that’s going to span six, seven hours, this is really your kind of only outlet. So, to really be able to tell the story, the TV format fit.

I don’t mind dabbling in American history but I don’t feel bound by any genre. I feel an affinity for my own country, for the history and I like to tell it in a robust way.

What do you want viewers to get out Hatfields and McCoys?

Well, what you hope is that people get what they consider their money’s worth. I hope what they get is the desire to want to share it too.

In terms of a message, I don’t really know. I hope that people can understand - they have to let go of their modern day sensibilities to understand how these people were.

Is there another era of American history you’d want to explore in the vein of the Hatfield mini-series?
 

I love the Revolutionary War, and as embarrassed as I am about the Mexican-American War, we started that and we just wanted to expand our borders. We have our fingerprints over so much, and there’s no reason to be embarrassed about it or hide it. It’s just a part of a national appetite that we had.

There’s not a border in the world that hasn’t been formed in blood and we’re no different. We don’t have clean hands. But there’s no reason to not talk about it, there’s no reason to not investigate it. And you can do that theatrically, and you can do it as simply as just reading a book.


How close is the screenplay to the actual events?

I think it’s pretty good. We’ve made some jumps; we’ve had to compress history. We did our best to be faithful to both stories, both families and try to go down the rabbit holes of other subplots.


This is a story of sort of two patriarchs - why do you think you are better suited for to play Devil Hatfield over Randall McCoy?
 

A lot of times the patriarchs have to anchor the story, anchor it down and I really like Devil Anse’s character. I had to put on my producer’s hat and understand where I could provide the most value in the storytelling and I think that that rested with Devil Anse.
 

• Hatfields and McCoys: Meet the family
• Joe Absolom talks to MSN about Hatfields and McCoys