“Kevin Costner Ate Magic Mushrooms, Then Drew His Sword: ‘Let’s Go’”

When Kevin Costner Went Mushroom Hunting Before a Sword Fight With Alan Rickman

If, like me, your impression of Kevin Costner’s long and tangled film career can be boiled down to a loud, Hollywood-soaked retelling of an old English tale, then brace yourself — this story might deflate the myth a little.

The 1990s were a chaotic time. Between the rise of Britpop, the ecstasy-fueled dance scene, and the awkward branding of “Cool Britannia,” England also managed to let a full-blooded American icon reimagine one of its most cherished legends. The result? Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves — a garish, action-packed retelling of the folklore hero’s return from the Crusades, with Kevin Costner leading the charge (sans English accent, of course).

The film is no masterpiece. In fact, it’s best remembered for its flamboyant villain. While Costner’s Robin Hood trudges earnestly through a muddied plot of revenge and romance, it’s Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham who truly steals the show. Channeling equal parts Meat Loaf and Frank-N-Furter, Rickman delivers a wonderfully deranged performance — the kind that makes you wonder if someone spiked the catering.

Apparently, someone did.

Costner once revealed that, during filming, he and his stunt double, Nick, decided to do a little off-screen foraging. “I remember hunting mushrooms out in the field,” Costner explained. Nick had assured him, “They’re out there.” And so, while the rest of the crew took their lunch break, the two men scoured the forest floor in search of psychedelic fungi.

Nick struck gold quickly, while Costner came up empty-handed. “After about the fifth one he found,” Costner recalled, “I said, ‘Nick, how are you finding these mushrooms?’ And he goes, ‘Well, you have to eat one, and it tells you where the rest of them are.’”

That’s when it hit him: his stunt double had already eaten several — and they were due for a choreographed sword fight with Alan Rickman that same afternoon.

“You’ve eaten mushrooms? Because we’re going to be swinging actual swords in about an hour,” Costner said. Nick’s answer was, naturally, “Yes.” Costner’s response was simple: “OK… let’s keep looking, but let’s not eat any more mushrooms.”

While there’s no hard proof that hallucinogens were behind the chaos of Prince of Thieves, the story makes a convincing case. Between Rickman’s theatrical mania, the bizarre tone shifts, and the fact that England’s most iconic outlaw sounds like he’s from California, it’s safe to assume some questionable choices were made — both on and off set.