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Kevin Costner Opens Up About Hilarious ‘Robin Hood’ Archery Story

Kevin Costner recently discussed pulling off a Robin Hood-like feat with a bow and arrow on the set of the film after being challenged by its director.

Costner recently completed a fan question and answer session on his Instagram. One person wanted to know how much archery training Costner had to convincingly draw a bow in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

The short answer? None. “It’s not that I trained as an archer, I just shot the damn thing all of the time,” he joked.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t learn some tricks. In fact, he discussed one day when director Kevin Reynolds challenged him to an archery contest of sorts. Costner explained it happened early during filming during some downtime. They were on set in a village the crew was rigging to burn down. Costner went to ask Reynold’s something when the director noticed he was still wearing his bow and quiver.

“Can you really shoot that thing?” he asked, according to Costner. “Well, hit that rabbit.”

Reynolds pointed to two fake rabbits hanging from a leather strap on the far side of the village about 25 yards away. Costner drew and fired. The arrow — which didn’t have a sharp tip — stuck through the fake rabbit and into a door.

“It was one of those moments you couldn’t have scripted,” Costner added. “No one was there to shoot it. The director looked at me, I looked at him. And I decided that I wouldn’t shoot a second time. Because it was just a perfect way to do it, not saying anything about it. I probably wouldn’t have hit it for another 10 shots. … I carried that little moment the rest of my life.”

Kevin Costner Talks About the Perks of His Job

Learning how to properly shoot a bow and arrow is only one of the things Costner said he’s had to learn for a film. He recently posted a photo from one of his most iconic roles, showing off some skills he learned for the movies.

In a Twitter post, Costner opened up about his time as Civil War Lieutenant John Dunbar in the Dances With Wolves. The photo features Costner in costume riding a horse. It’s something he loves doing. And it’s something he’s still doing. He regularly climbs into the saddle for his wildly popular show Yellowstone.

“There’s nothing like riding a horse,” Costner captions the post on Twitter and Instagram. “Completely liberating. I’m lucky that it’s sometimes part of the job for me.”