Kevin Costner Returns to His Roots With New Christmas Special

Actor Kevin Costner’s first role was not in Hollywood but as a shepherd in a church Christmas play.

“Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas” will air at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9 and be available for streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.

“I was a rascal,” he 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.”

After a long and successful career, Costner is returning to the place where faith and performance first intersected. “The First Christmas,” a new Christmas special, explores the historical and spiritual events surrounding Jesus’ birth, aiming to bring a human perspective to a story many believe they already know. His decision to be host of the special represented an intentional step into more explicitly faith-focused storytelling.

“When I decided to do this, I felt it was really important,” he 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.”

Costner, who has been in the spotlight for decades and has seen his personal life heavily scrutinized, said faith has 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.”

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.”

–Alan Goforth