If you grew up in the 1990s, then the name Susan Powter might seem familiar to you. She was the fitness guru with short, spikey blonde hair that became famous for her weight-loss infomercials where her catchphrase, “Stop the insanity,” became a cultural phenomenon. These days, she’s an Uber Eats driver living in Las Vegas, but back then, she was one of the most recognizable faces in the world and, according to her, was once courted by Kevin Costner to star in his box office flop, Waterworld.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Powter – who was once so famous she was given her own talk show – says she received a phone call from Costner at the height of her popularity. The call came whilst she was in the middle of a beauty appointment in L.A., and, as she remembers it, Costner was understanding when she turned him down.
“He was about to shoot that movie. The character he was talking about was like a crazy warrior. It was an intelligent conversation. I said ‘I really appreciate you thinking of me.’ It’s a movie, I’m not going to be a jerk. S**t! A movie! We were talking about doing it, we were talking about the role. I said, ‘[The character is] just not who I am.’ I’m passionate; I’m not angry. There’s a difference.”
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Powter would go on to say that her decision to turn down Waterworld caused a rift between herself and her manager, who “was livid because she wanted the movie.” Though the film went on to be one of the worst disasters of the 90s in terms of its production and box office reception, Powter says she still holds a special place in her heart for Costner, and isn’t affected at all by Waterworld’s bad reputation. “What I know is I had a nice conversation with a very nice man, and he understood,” she told EW. “I was not in any way affected by it.”
Heralded as the most expensive movie ever made at the time, the controversy surrounding Waterworld stems mostly from its financial failure, and not its plot. Factoring in the movie’s budget and marketing, it cost around $235 million to make, and only drew in $264 million at the worldwide box office. It didn’t actually turn a profit until years later, and that was thanks in part to home video and TV rights, as well as things like novels, video games, and comic books.
That being said, Waterworld isn’t as bad as you remember it to be. It was definitely fun for what it was, and featured elaborate set pieces, lots of action, and a plethora of great ideas that – while they could have been executed better – were enough to help the film tread water rather than sink to the bottom of the ocean. It’s certainly not one of Costner’s finer moments, but at the same time, it does a good job of providing enough entertainment to justify its 135-minute runtime. If you want to revisit the 1995 classic, it’s now available to stream on Netflix.
July 28, 1995
135minutes
Kevin Reynolds
Kevin Reynolds
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