COSTNER'S INCREDIBLE RIDE

THE HOLLYWOOD LEGEND AND DAD OF 7 SHARES SURPRISING STORIES ABOUT HIS LIFE, CAREER AND SPRAWLING NEW WESTERN, HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA

- ELIZABETH LEONARD

Kevin Costner is busy. Very busy. For one, he's got back-to-back movies opening this summer-two ambitious installments of his Western epic Horizon: An American Saga, for which he's cowriter, director and star. A whirlwind promotional tour has taken him from Las Vegas to Cannes, where he was moved nearly to tears in May by the film festival crowd's 10-minute standing ovation. But at the end of the day, the 69-year-old Oscar-winning director and star of classics like The Untouchables, Dances With Wolves and Field of Dreams says he's got one true top-priority gig: "I'm an Uber guy."

Indeed, Costner's dad-duty day job often revolves around shuttling his three youngest kids, Cayden, 17, Hayes, 15, and Grace, 14, whom he shares with his ex-wife Christine Baumgartner, between friends' houses, school and volleyball practices. (He also has adult kids Annie, 40, Lily, 37, and Joe, 36, with ex-wife Cindy Silva, and son Liam, 27, with former actress Bridget Rooney.) "They're like shooting stars," says Costner, relaxed and thoughtful on a spring afternoon at his Santa Barbara-area home that boasts views across the Pacific and a private beach where the kids grew up surfing, spearfishing and naming "every critter in the tide pool." He says: "My life is driving up and down the freeway just trying to get the children where they think they need to be...but that's part of the job."