| Fidel Castro joins Kevin Costner at screening of movie on Cuban Missile Crisis 04/10/2001 Associated Press HAVANA – President Fidel Castro sat next to actor-producer Kevin Costner as Cuban officials joined Hollywood heavyweights at a private screening of "Thirteen Days," Costner's movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
"The president was quite animated throughout," Costner press agent Stephen Rivers said Tuesday of the screening the night before. "He kept identifying scenes and people, especially the American officials, during the entire film."
The movie is told solely from the vantage point of President Kennedy and his staff, and focuses on the decision-making process that led to the removal of the Soviet missiles from Cuban soil in October 1962. Castro, who was in power at the time of the crisis, and other Cuban officials were not portrayed in the film.
Costner and Castro were joined in the screening at the Palace of the Revolution, where Castro keeps his offices, by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Vice President Carlos Lage and members of Castro's personal staff. They later held a dinner that went into the wee hours of Tuesday, said Rivers.
"Everywhere we have taken this film it has had a positive response," Rivers said. "Kevin was very appreciative of the time the president gave us and of the opportunity to show him the film. Costner reportedly was resting and unavailable for comment early Tuesday.
Costner arrived here Monday afternoon, accompanied by fellow producers Aryan Bernstein, Beacon Pictures chairman, and Peter Almond, along with several others. Also in the group were Costner's companion, Christine Baumgartner, and Chris Lawford, a member of the Kennedy family who also appeared in the movie.
On Tuesday morning, the group was screening the film to Cuban audiences and the New Latin Cinema Film Institute. Group members were hopeful that Castro would show up again at a Tuesday afternoon screening at the Palace of Conventions.
"(Castro) was quite engaged and seemed interested in continuing the conversation" at a subsequent screening, Rivers said.
"Thirteen Days" opened in the United States in January and got its first high-profile screening the following month at the White House, where it was viewed by President Bush and members of the Kennedy family.
New Line Cinema then had the movie about the U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown sent to the international space station for the enjoyment of its crew – two Russians and an American.
In the movie, Costner stars as Kenny O'Donnell, a White House aide to President Kennedy and his brother Robert.
The film is based on the book "The Kennedy Tapes – Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis."
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