Kevin Costner recalls Prince William telling him that mom Princess Diana 'kind of fancied you'

Kevin Costner almost made a movie with Princess Diana before her death — and now the actor is sharing a fond memory of an interaction he had with her son years later.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the Field of Dreams and Yellowstone star discussed a conversation he had with Prince William that probably took place in the early 2010s. Costner had previously been in talks with Diana about starring together in a sequel to The Bodyguard, and William revealed that his late mother had enjoyed their chats.

"I ultimately had a very sweet conversation about 15 years later with Prince William," Costner recalled. "He walked up, and we sat down, and shook hands, and the first line out of his mouth was, he says, 'You know, my mom kinda fancied you.'"

The actor said he met with William when he was already spending time across the pond. "I happened to be over in England, and got this message that, 'The Prince would love you talk to you,'" Costner said. "I've never talked about this, but I can because of how I very much respect him, but I think it's a story worthwhile about him… We met in this room, where the chairs were still stacked on chairs. It was just us. I'm sure there was somebody [outside], but just him and I met. There was nobody else."

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Costner declined to share further details about the interaction but reiterated that he remains quite charmed by William. "We talked about a half hour, I'll never say what we talked about, but it was a very sweet thing," he said. "And we both broke away, and never became pen pals or did anything like that, but I've had such fond memories about who he was, how I was approached, and what we talked about."

Costner previously spoke about the Bodyguard sequel idea in 2019. "I just remember her being incredibly sweet on the phone when she asked the questions," he said of Princess Di. "She goes, 'Are we going to have like a kissing scene?' But she said it in a very respectful — she was a little nervous because I think her life was very governed."

The actor said that Diana's former sister-in-law — Sarah, Duchess of York — was instrumental in bringing the project together. "Sarah was the one that set this up," Costner told PEOPLE. "Sarah was very cool, the duchess. When she could've been going, 'Whoa, I'm a princess too, what about me?,' she didn't. She didn't do that all. She [said], 'No, I'm gonna make this happen.' And she did. I always respected her, that she never inserted herself."

Watch the full interview with Costner above.