Kevin Costner’s ‘Waterworld’ celebrates its 25th anniversary

In 1995, Kevin Costner starred in “Waterworld,” a film known more for its massive budget than its star power. The movie had an estimated budget of $175 million. Way before Universal Pictures began production, the vision of “Waterworld” came from screenwriter Peter Rader, who says he was inspired by “Mad Max.” “I wasn’t willing to just rehash that genre without some kind of cool variation,” he tells Yahoo Entertainment. “Let’s set it on water.” The idea wasn’t immediately received but Rader says he believed in it and wrote the script. In fact, he had Harrison Ford in mind, not Costner, for the character of “The Mariner.” But he was “thrilled” when Costner came on board. “He was gigantic at the time,” Rader says. “Waterworld,” Rader’s first script, had quite a bit of behind-the-scenes drama. Besides the budget ballooning out of control there was also tension during the editing of the film between Costner and the director, Kevin Reynolds. “Costner basically took over the editing,” Rader says. “Kevin, he just left Hollywood at that point.” Watch the video above for more on the making of “Waterworld.”