Kevin Costner weighs in on diversity, with new film

NAPA, Calif. – Kevin Costner leans forward in a conspiratorial posture,and levels his dark blue eyes with laser-like intensity, to impart some career advice.

http://i.imgur.com/XvJJU5H.jpg?1"Go with what you believe in -- tell that story," he says in a hushed voice. "Subjects and themes that often make people uncomfortable often are the most rewarding."

The Academy Award-winning actor-director was referring to Black or White, a drama about interracial relations he stars in, and which he promoted, at the Napa Valley Film Festival last weekend. In it, he plays a widower tangled in a custody battle for his granddaughter, who is black.

"No one in Hollywood wanted to make this," said Costner, who led financing for the film's $9 million budget. "Stories about race and inequality make people nervous, it scares them. But they need to be told. I mean, what kind of world do we live in?"

So, when Costner was informed of inequity in Silicon Valley and an expanding economic divide between the tech wealthy and those around them, he immediately saw a parallel. "In different ways, we need to tell these stories – you as a writer, and me as a filmmaker," he said. "Stay with that story."

Costner's interest in technology is genuine: He has invested millions in Water Planet Engineering, a clean-water project based in Culver City, Calif., that underscores his belief in big, bold projects that can be critically acclaimed (Dances With Wolves, JFK) or panned (Waterworld, The Postman).

"What's life without tackling real issues?" he said.

Gritty social issues were alive and well at the festival, where documentaries and feature films tackled topics ranging from women in science and technology (Big Dream) to race relations in the deep South (Harlem Street Singer). The festival, in its fourth year, screened 125 films at 12 venues. Highlights included celebrity tributes to Costner and Michelle Monaghan (True Detective, Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol), and appearances by actors Mike Myers and Shailene Woodley.

Fort Bliss -- a dark, unsettling character study of a returning Afghanistan veteran (Monaghan) who is divorced and estranged from her young son -- spotlights the neglected story of returning war vets.

The film's depiction is eerily reminiscent of the plight of vets interviewed for a recent USA Today piece on the proximity of those in need in the San Francisco Bay Area to multibillion-dollar tech companies like Facebook. A thirty-something veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, who asked that his name not be used, is a divorced parent living day to day. He described himself as an "algorithm" forgotten by the system amid vast wealth near his Redwood City, Calif., apartment.

"We've been sheltered from that side of the war," said Monaghan, who is steeped in research on the topic – she cites statistics on suicides among soldiers -- and was trained as a medic for the role. "There has been an extended toll, but disconnect" from the public.

And yet the topic resonates with those touched by the topic – from Silicon Valley and beyond.

"The audience is much smarter than we give them credit for," Monaghan said. "While the media fixates on Ebola, this is a real topic that touches everyone."

Real-world problems in movies are the life blood of a film festival – the yin to the yang of big-budget pictures, summer blockbusters and sequels.

Bill Paxton has done both. His resume includes some of the biggest money-makers in movie history (Titanic, Aliens) and enduring cult pieces (Frailty,A Simple Plan).

So, while his turns in action movies like Twister and Aliens are what made him famous, Paxton veers toward personal stories as a director. His biopic of golf champion Francis Ouimet, The Greatest Game Ever Played, ranks high on his list of professional achievements, he said.

The Texas native said the most gratifying projects are often smaller ones, tales of everyday people with everyday problems.

"Social issues strike at who we are, and how we evolve," Paxton said. "That's what impacts an audience."

Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars, The Descendants and the forthcoming Insurgent) put it simply: "It's important for all of us to be reminded of what life is about -- falling in love, relationships, our health," she said. "When we wake up every day, we're winning."