NO MORE MR. NICE GUY : Costner Goes the Cagney Route

Are audiences ready for Kevin Costner as a (mostly) bad guy?

At least in “No Way Out,� moviegoers were fooled into thinking otherwise until the very last minute when the character the actor plays turns out to be a Soviet spy.

Not in “A Perfect World,� his latest venture, which opens Wednesday.

This time, the actor is borderline bad throughout. As an escaped con pursued by Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood, who also directs), Costner does such things as take a 7-year-old boy hostage, shoot a vicious fellow escapee dead in a corn field and threaten an entire family of Texas sharecroppers. And those are just the highlights.

“(Kevin) is a smart guy. He thought it was a good time for him to play a character who people will be ambivalent about,� said producer Mark Johnson, countering some early negative buzz that the movie’s theme is too much of a downer to entice more than die-hard fans of Costner and Eastwood, especially during the holiday season. “There aren’t a lot of similar movies out there.�

Butch, the convict Costner portrays, shows a veneer of friendliness to the boy who is his captive (T.J. Lowther) as they drive on wide-open Texas country roads eluding authorities and stealing cars. Yet he also is capable of sudden, lethal violence which he allows the child to witness. (On appeal, the MPAA lessened the movie’s rating from R to PG-13.)

Johnson (who also produced “Rain Man� and “Bugsy�) concedes that “A Perfect World� is a risky venture, given that most of the current movie competition are Oscar-contenders and feel-good holiday fare. His hope is that the story, as much as the movie’s two stars, will help sell tickets: “From the time I first read the script, I thought it was an extraordinary story . . . entirely character driven . . . about fathers and sons and how important that relationship is.�

For his part, Eastwood, coming off two critical and commercial successes--the multi-Oscar-winning “Unforgiven� and “In the Line of Fire�--probably need only worry about holding on to his status as one of the American cinema’s premier icons. His crusty lawman role is hardly a stretch.

If anything, “A Perfect World� is a case of talent attracting talent--and getting a big studio backing as a result.

Johnson initially could not interest TriStar Pictures, where two years ago he and his Baltimore Pictures partner, director Barry Levinson, had an overall production deal. The studio passed--for the very same reasons Johnson said that the movie’s naysayers are talking about about today: “It’s dark.�

Without Levinson, who was busy working on “Toys,� Johnson interested Warners and director Steven Spielberg. That created a “must-make� frenzy around the project even after Spielberg was forced to pass because of conflicts on “Jurassic Park.� The script, by unknown Texas writer John Lee Hancock, was then forwarded to Eastwood, who decided to make it his next picture.

Hancock felt blessed. With the exception of adapting the Red character for Eastwood, who initially had been planning only to direct, he said little was changed from the original script. “Fortunately, the people involved had enough clout to keep things the way I intended,� he said.

Both Johnson and Eastwood wanted Costner in the lead--and he accepted, apparently almost immediately, eager to work again after a year’s absence since “The Bodyguard� and eager to stretch beyond playing hunky, laconic types. The actor is on location in New Mexico shooting “Wyatt Earp� and is said to be unavailable for interviews.

Eastwood, meanwhile, is “exhausted� from a long year of Oscar-related publicity and parties for “Unforgiven,� the filming of “In the Line of Fire� and now acting in and directing “A Perfect World,� a spokesman for his Warners-based Malpaso Prods. said. So, with the exception of co-hosting a relatively starless premiere in Westwood last Monday, he too is keeping a low profile.

Whatever the film’s prospects, Warners certainly hasn’t skimped on marketing and advertising. The two stars, after all, have generated millions of dollars for the studio, including Eastwood’s “Unforgiven� as well as his “Dirty Harry� and “Any Which Way . . .� series, and Costner’s “Bodyguard.�