Kevin Costner is exploring the history of Yellowstone and Yosemite in his upcoming documentary Yellowstone to Yosemite. In the documentary, he'll explore how John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt played pivotal roles in the early formation of the park.
In a clip shared by FOX Nation, Costner opened up a bit about his knowledge of Roosevelt.
He said, "I think I knew about Roosevelt almost in the same way I knew about Muir, maybe a little bit more. But to say you know more is to show how ignorant you really are, right? You know, I — we know, it's been documented, we have talked about the asthma he suffered as a child living in New York, and that somehow somebody along the way said, why doesn't this kid find himself in some — put him in nature, put him in fresh air?"
He continued, "And I don't want to say magically, but the reality was, it changed the course of Teddy's life. The great outdoors changed him. And, also, it informed him. And like we say, I think, in the show, he would forever equate the outdoors with health. But he — this sickly little boy that maybe wasn't going to make it, found himself through the economics of his parents had — he had the ability to travel the world."
Kevin Costner Talks Roosevelt
According to Costner, Roosevelt stands unique among the many presidents of the country. Costner highlighted how Roosevelt went from a sickly boy to who he ultimately became.
He said, "And he saw the Middle East. He saw the world, I can't think of another president who — except our early presidents, who actually lived in the frontier. The architecture of his life, being a sickly boy, asthma, living in the middle of Manhattan, having — luckily having parents of wealth, of means who could go to many doctors, and it finally came down to, why don't you get this kid out of the city, put him into nature, and let him breathe fresh air?"
He continued, "That was the Yellow Brick Road for Teddy Roosevelt, because it informed him. It changed him forever. This was a boy that would grow into a young man who would go to Harvard and write his first book, albeit four pages, but he would also — he became a policeman in New York."
Costner's new documentary premieres its first episode on FOX Nation on February 8.
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