Costner and Castro Bond Over Thirteen Days

April 10, 2001 -- Kevin Costner's plot to convince the world's leaders to watch Thirteen Days, his recent film based on the Cuban missile crisis, continues to gain steam.

The actor met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro for seven hours today, gathering in the capital city of Havana to dine and show political leaders the drama, which has already been viewed by U.S. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton.

Costner and Castro met today to watch Thirteen Days and to discuss the movie version versus the Cuban president's real-life role in the tense 1962 event. American representatives there to show the film stressed that it provides just "one perspective on the crisis from one side."

The actor, who arrived at his Havana hotel on Monday evening, was invited to a special screening, as were other members of Thirteen Days' cast and crew.

"I shouldn't be speaking for [Castro], but he responded to the film very favorably, and we had a very interesting discussion afterwards," Costner's spokesman, Stephen Rivers, told Reuters. "Kevin was very appreciative of the amount of time the president gave us."

Thirteen Days producers Armyan Bernstein and Peter Almond also attended the meeting. Cuban guests included senior leaders like Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, as well as the heads of the local state-run cinema industry.

In the film, Costner plays an adviser to John F. Kennedy, president at the time of the standoff, which could have triggered World War III.

Costner said last month that he would like all world leaders to watch Thirteen Days in order to remember the threat of nuclear war, which he believes is still very real. "We are moving toward the situation there was in 1962 because of the hostility and instability of certain regions of the world. People who see [Thirteen Days] will want to know more about this crisis," he told reporters at the movie's London premiere.

Reuters contributed to this story.