Academy Award-winning actor, director and producer Kevin Costner made a solid career out of playing amiable, dependable leading men with a stoic, deadpan style best utilized in sports-themed, feel-good movies.

He made his film debut in director Lawrence Kasdan's "The Big Chill" (1983). To compensate, for his next film Kasdan gave him the prominent, flashy role of a wild gunfighter in the action-packed neo-modern western, "Silverado" (1985). Costner's breakout year came in the form of two hit films that he solidly led – director Brian de Palma's prohibition crime drama "The Untouchables" (1987) when he was cast as Elliot Ness opposite Robert de Niro's murderous Al Capone and the military thriller "No Way Out" alongside Gene Hackman. A string of subsequent hits, including the baseball-themed "Bull Durham" (1988) and "Field Of Dreams" (1989) led to his masterpiece, the academy awarding-winning western "Dances With Wolves" (1990).

Costner's 2012 History Channel miniseries "Hatfields&Mccoys" broke a record by pulling 13.9 million viewers and now his new television series "Yellowstone" is marking the first regular TV series role in his career. Daily Sabah conducted an interview with the famous actor on his career and current projects.

DAILY SABAH: Was your latest TV show "Yellowstone" originally developed as a film or thought to be developed as a film?

KEVIN COSTNER: It was always intended to be long. "Do you want to make a long movie?" I said, "Sure." He said, let's make 10 episodes and we'll make it a movie that goes down all the different plot lines and that's what we'll do. As he began to evolve his thoughts, paramount began to evolve their thoughts. But it was not ever intended to be a movie, but we wanted to try to shoot it like a movie. Not so episodic, like let's just shoot cross board. You shoot the last scene early in the whole process and then put it together as opposed to different episodes each time.

D.S: You love westerns, you're always tuned into those stories. Can you just talk about what exactly appealed to you the most?

COSTNER: Well, I don't run away from films that take me outdoors and I don't run away from them when there's horses. One of the things they all have in common; I've done some sports movies, but I've been passed 200 of them. I've done some westerns, but I have been given 200 westerns. So, both those areas I enjoy, but unless it somehow gets over the bar, passes through the eye of the needle, what I consider something that can play around the world, where the feelings where people recognize each other and are, at times, brought into environments that are fun for them that they don't really know exists or know much about. That's where "Yellowstone" really began to shine for me, because while the characters are fictional, this lifestyle is not. The cowboy is alive and well in America. This way of life is still being carried on, the modern-day ranching, and it still is primarily done on horseback, although the trappings of big ranches have helicopters and ATVs. So, I am drawn to it.

D.S.: How would you describe yourself? A man of the land? In which way does the land speak to you? And how do you make sure that the children have that connection as well?

COSTNER: I've probably told a long, long time ago that I built three canoes and went down the same river that Lewis and Clark had gone down. And here I am making a film in the Bitterroot Valley exactly where they went down. And so that's not lost on me. I love American history, the good and bad of it. I recognize all of it. And so, to be able to place a drama inside all that, that makes sense to me where I feel like I fit, is the needle for me that would allow me to go away from home and do it.

D.S: How do you make sure children grow up connected to it?

COSTNER: I think it's important to try to expose your children to as many things as possible. That's the joy of it. Seeing the things that you love and watching through their eyes and letting them decide that the opportunities that you give them, your experiences or something they may want to return to.

D.S: When did you first own a piece of land and how important was that for you?

COSTNER: The first thing I bought was interesting because when I finally got kind of some money, not a lot, I wanted to buy a house like all of us. I wanted to have my own home. But I found in L.A. I couldn't find a home that made me feel proud of it because I didn't have enough money. It didn't take me into a neighborhood that I felt my wife would be safe. I'm thinking "I don't want to take everything I made and put it in something I'm not proud of." What I did was go up to Mammoth, California and bought a little cabin or a little condo that was in the mountains and even though it wasn't my home, it made me feel good. It made me feel proud too and I would drive up there to be in the mountains and to fish and to do those things. So, my first home that I bought was actually in the mountains, a little condo.

D.S: You have a music band called "Kevin Costner and the Modern West," do you not?

COSTNER: I called it "Modern West" and the band insisted I call it "Kevin Costner and the Modern West." And i said, "Really?" and they said, "Yes, it will make a difference." It really bothered me and actually choosing the name of the band was one of the most painful moments I had because we didn't form the band knowing we would ever be paid. I formed the band and wanted to play wherever I was making a movie, period, live, and then it evolved into this and it involved into making records and it evolved into touring and that was never the plan. And actually that's probably the best thing for me in life when I don't have a plan. I just move to the things that make me feel good.

D.S: Do you feel that the band performing in places seems like a bridge or a communicator in today's America, where we are so divided? You seem to speak to both sides in a way.

COSTNER: I don't know, my band has played in a lot of places. We played at the Kremlin. I played in South America. I played in Switzerland. And I've been invited to Putin's house. We played at the Grand Ole Opry. I hope that I have a handle on what my voice is and I hope that it's based on information where my opinion comes from. And it matters to me what's happening in the world, but I understand that my opinion doesn't matter as much. I think there's a place for me and you have to be careful about when you take the moment to express your opinion. When we're in this room, we're talking about film and I believe we slip into other places and I've come to know that about this body of people and I've always tried to talk about where you want it to go.