Hidden Figures: Kevin Costner says ‘I used the N-word a thousand times’ as he talks racism

The movie, which is the top-grossing nominee for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, sees Costner starring alongside Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and Taraji P. Henson as black women becoming integral to the work of NASA at a time of rampant explicit racism in the USA.

Speaking to Square Mile, Costner recalled his own upbringing in Compton, near LA, where he and those around him were oblivious about the significance of the N-word.

“I said the N-word a thousand times as a child. That’s how you talked,” he said. “But there comes a moment when you choose how you are going to be yourself. 

“All of a sudden, telepathically you knew that word wasn’t funny; it fell flat like a coke that had no more bubbles in it, and it was gone, eliminated.”

He added that, even in the 1990s, “some people weren’t happy that I picked Whitney Houston to be my love interest in The Bodyguard  – and that I kissed her; who wouldn’t want to kiss her? 

“I don’t think those people were happy that I would do Hidden Figures.”

And on the current climate, he sighed: “Racism is alive and well in America.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s there, and all I can try to do is make my choices and educate my children.”