Kevin Costner ‘Hired a Surf Trainer’ and Is Catching Waves to Prep for New ‘Headhunters’ Film

Kevin Costner is eager to begin work on his next film project, a surf thriller titled Headhunters, and sources exclusively tell Closer he’s enlisting teachers who will help him hang 10.

“Kevin’s desperate to hang out with the surf crowd now that he’s got a new movie on the subject, and he’s trying to channel his inner Baywatch,” says an insider. “He’s hired a surf trainer and getting out there early in the morning to catch the first waves.”

The upcoming movie, starring the 69-year-old — who also acts as cowriter and producer — will be directed by Steven Holleran based on an idea he originated. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is described as a mashup that combines the “kinetic energy of surf culture with the suspense of horror.”

Kevin will play a washed-up American expat named Lazer who now lives in Bali, Indonesia, and recruits a group of surfers on a journey to an uncharted island.

The film is currently in pre-production in Hawaii ahead of a November start date.

According to the Closer source, Kevin is “trying to be as method as he can be,” referring to the famed acting technique used by performers who prepare for a role by using their own experiences and memories.

“This is the way Kevin does things,” the source explains. “But he’s got a long way to go, and he may never reach his goal because, let’s face it, he’s a lousy surfer.”

The insider adds, “The feeling is he should probably stay in the whitewater and avoid the big waves — and let the stuntman do the stunt work!”

It seems that Kevin is working so hard to on Headhunters because his passion project Horizon: An American Saga proved to be a huge disaster.

Kevin is the recipient of two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, but Hollywood was not showing him the love this time around with Horizon.

In fact, a source told Life & Style in June that “Kevin was warned by marketing execs that he could get hit in the press over this film, and that has now happened,” adding, “The critical beatdown he took in Cannes stings, it stings a lot, but Kevin has defied the odds before and he’s even made massive hits out of movies critics didn’t entirely get at first, most notably 1992’s The Bodyguard.”

The source continued, “What’s more irritating to Kevin is that he really doesn’t feel like he has the film industry behind him on this big swing, and he encounters naysayers at every turn. It’s supremely annoying to him after all he’s done for Hollywood and especially for the Western genre.”

Still, Kevin tried to remain optimistic throughout the process. “He is a man of faith and of hope and even if the town isn’t on his side, he’s got a track record of entertaining people by following his muse and sticking to his principles,” the source said. “It’s not like he hasn’t had flops before, but the biggest successes, the movies that made him a legend, always started out being underestimated.”