Amazon Eying Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon for ‘Bull Durham’ Sequel: They Can ‘Top’ the Original

Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner had sizzling chemistry in 1988 romcom Bill Durham and a source exclusively tells Closer they’re being wooed to reprise their roles and team up for more spicy on-screen fun almost three decades later! 

“Kevin and Susan are incredibly different personalities on every level, but they both know they had all time great chemistry on Bull Durham almost forty years ago,” the insider says. “Over the years they have both had talks about doing a sequel or revisiting that world in some way.” 

The late-80s hit was a product of writer/director Ron Shelton, who found fame with White Men Can’t Jump, Cobb, Tin Cup and Play It To The Bone. He recently told Cinema Sugar he’s still hopeful for “getting movies made and television shows made,” even at the age of 82, which has many fans of his minor-league baseball saga eager for a potential sequel. The biggest hurdle, according to the filmmaker, is dealing with the “bureaucracy” of movie making these days as studios have become larger and more data-driven. Amazon now owns the rights to Bill Durham and, according to the source, would likely love to put up the money for a follow up.

“People still revere that original film, but Top Gun Maverick showed everybody in the business that you can revisit an 80s classic and, if approached carefully, you can top it,” the insider explains.” 

‘Fortunately, the creator of the Bull Durham, Ron Shelton, is still around and still eager to re-team with Kevin and Susan, and Kevin insists he wants to make one or two more baseball movies because of his fondness for the genre.” 

The Yellowstone star, 70, met up with his former costar, 78, last year for the Better World Fund Gala in September. “There’s nothing like catching up with an old friend. Great to see you @susansarandon—we’ve come a long way since our Bull Durham days,” he posted to Instagram alongside a photo of the two of them.

“Everybody wants it to happen and there have been many story discussions about it over the last several years, there just isn’t a script yet,” the insider reveals. 

Though, there is something of a ticking time bomb waiting to go off that would ruin any chance of a sequel – a remake starring two new actors stepping to the roles Kevin and Susan played nearly 40 years ago. The source notes that, if Amazon were to go ahead with a remake of the original it would kill any chance of a sequel bringing back their beloved characters, Crash Davis and Annie Savoy.

“There’s still time to pull this together before the rights holders inevitably begin planning a dreaded remake,” the source says. “That’s the worst case scenario, in fact.” 

The insider adds that, “people love the original Bull Durham because of Susan and Kevin’s magical work,” which makes a remaster heavily dependent on the new cast and very unlikely to recapture the charm that made the original work. “You can’t just plug two random actors into those roles and expect people to show up.”