Kevin Costner bets on himself again in 'Swing Vote'

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  Ben Glass / Touchstone

KEVIN COSTNER'S “Swing Vote” tells the story of an apathetic man floating through life, happy to play whatever cards life deals him. Costner's approach to making the film couldn't have been more different: Rather than watch the Capra-esque fable about a deadlocked election drift away, the actor stepped up to invest more than $21 million of his own money to finance it.

A-list actors are increasingly willing to defer their multimillion-dollar salaries to help get difficult movies made, usually taking a bigger cut of the film's profits in exchange. George Clooney slashed his fee for "Michael Clayton," Sean Penn worked below his normal rate for the upcoming “Milk” and Julia Roberts hardly got rich costarring in the new independent movie “Fireflies in the Garden.”

There's only a handful of top stars, though, who are willing to go beyond a salary deferral and actually place their own money at risk. Mel Gibson famously pulled $25 million out of his bank account to fund 2004's “The Passion of the Christ,” and Al Pacino spent some of his money to produce 1996's "Looking for Richard."

Costner has one of the longest -- and best -- track records for putting his money where his movie is. Including 1990's Oscar-winning "Dances With Wolves," 2003's "Open Range" and Friday's "Swing Vote," the 53-year-old actor-director has proved remarkably adept at betting on himself, even though Costner says it's not that much of a gamble.

A popular courtroom maxim holds that a defendant who represents himself has a fool for a client. But as Costner's experience proves, the creative and financial rewards of backing yourself in Hollywood can be lucrative.

"I'm not a fool," says Costner, who both stars in and produced "Swing Vote" with longtime partner Jim Wilson. "I do my own math, and I know at the end of the day what's at risk. I don't call it a roll of the dice. I call it a calculated risk."

In "Dances With Wolves," which Costner directed and produced with Wilson, Costner put $2.5 million of his $3-million salary into the film when the production went over budget. The epic western not only won the best picture Oscar but also grossed $424 million worldwide.

Costner invested $750,000 of his own funds in the development of "Open Range," which he also directed and co-produced, and took no money upfront in exchange for a share of the film's profits. The western grossed nearly $60 million domestically and, when all ancillary revenue was counted, delivered about $30 million in profits to Costner's company, Tig Productions, Costner says.