Kevin Costner And Sylvester Stallone Just Helped The Same Fundraiser
Two great American actors.
BAFTA is giving back to the performers who’ve helped them the most over the years. While in London to celebrate the upcoming UK and Ireland launch of streaming service Paramount+, stars including Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Shannon received the highest level of honors: the dedication of their own theater seats. The symbolic naming of the seats happened at the Princess Anne Theatre at BAFTA’s headquarters which are located in Piccadilly. Celebrating some of the biggest names in the biz, the seat crowning marked another mini-event in BAFTA’s Take a Seat fundraising effort.
In a photo released via Deadline to accompany the news, each actor stands stoic, leaning up against the seats in the cozy and intimate theater. While Kevin Costner looks a bit confused, Sylvester Stallone appears to be happy and proud about the honor. Costner’s confusion is fully bolstered in his statement surrounding the dedication as the actor commented that he wasn’t quite certain as to why he was receiving the plaque, but was “happy to have a seat.” Dressed to the nines, the rest of the performers look on with smiles on their faces. You can see a tweet with that image accompanying it below.
If you’re more of a Kevin Costner and less of a Sylvester Stallone when it comes to exactly why the arts charity is marking down the names of some of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars onto their very soft looking seats, perhaps Nick Williams, BAFTA’s marketing and communications manager, can help break it down. Williams and those backing the fundraising campaign are hoping that by celebrating artists in the industry, those artists will also celebrate BAFTA. Last month, renowned director Steven Spielberg made a large donation to BAFTA and in return, one of the rooms in the Princess Anne Theatre was renamed the Steven Spielberg Projection Room. Just a little you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
The move will also hopefully drive up specific ticket sales as now theater goers can have their choice of sitting in the Kevin Costner, Jessica Chastain, or Sylvester Stallone seats. It’s a win-win for everyone! And with the great work that BAFTA does in the world of film, games, and television, any and all help will go towards enriching the entertainment community. Outside the annual awards show, BAFTA aims to make it easier for new talent to break into the hard to get into industry so that a diverse collection of voices can be heard.
As for the projects that Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone, Faith Hill, and the rest of the new seat holders were across the pond to promote, here’s the lowdown. As for Costner, he was in town representing the hit series, Yellowstone, which centers on a family holding down their ranch in Montana. In the same vein, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were acting as the faces of the Yellowstone spinoff series, 1883. Stallone was showing his face to rep yet another Taylor Sheridan created series titled Tulsa King where the film megastar plays the role of a mafia leader who’s uprooted from his life in New York to head operations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Finally, Shannon and Chastain were promoting their upcoming series, George and Tammy, based around the up and down relationship of country music icons, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.
