Entertainment

Starr Report

We’ve written a lot in The Post the past few days about the success of “Hatfields & McCoys” — so allow me to spill just a little more cyber ink about History’s record-breaking three-part miniseries.

“Hatfields” wrapped its run six-hour run Wednesday night with a stunning 14.3 million viewers, eclipsing both Monday night and Tuesday night’s numbers (13.9 million and 13.1 million, respectively). That earned “Hatfields” a three-night average of 13.8 million viewers, which is pretty impressive, considering it aired on cable, and in a traditionally lower-viewership time of year.

(On the other hand, you could say it did better because most of the other shows — both broadcast and cable — already ended their seasons before “Hatfields” premiered with stars Kevin Costner, Mare Winningham, Powers Boothe, Tom Berenger and Bill Paxton.)

I was lucky enough to get “Hatfields & McCoys” executive producer Leslie Greif on the phone this week, just after his miniseries — which took 30 years to make it to the airwaves — had broken its first record. We ran a story in yesterday’s Post TV section, but here’s some more of our conversation I wasn’t able to include in the (print) version of the story.

Among other things, Greif told me that, at one time or another, both Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck were considered for the project — and that he (Greif) likens “Hatfields & McCoys” to one of the greatest movies in American cinematic history.

“My mentor is Al Ruddy, who produced ‘The Godfather’ and we are the American ‘Godfather,’ ” Greif said. “These are two families coming out of violent times who started off as friends and neighbors — and through a series of ills and misdeeds and extended family action got caught up in the bloodiest [family] battle in our history.

“It was a senseless cycle of revenge that went nowhere.”

Greif said that, when he approached Costner to headline the miniseries, the actor agreed — on one condition.

“He said, ‘Don’t change a word of the script,’ and you never hear that from actors,” he said. “He said, ‘I’m in,’ and for him to make a commitment to a period piece, and to do something on a bootstring-and-rubber-band budget and move to Romania [where it was shot] for months and to be up in the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania . . . he’s one of the iconic movie heroes of our time, a real Gary Cooper type.”

Greif said that, once Costner was on board, the others followed.

“He blazed a trail for the rest of the cast,” he said. “Bill Paxton was the first man [on location] and the last to leave. He had an attitude that just rallied the whole cast and crew and kept them happy.”

Greif said that there were times — over the 30 years it took him to convince someone to do “Hatfields & McCoys” — that he got flustered.

“You never give up, but there were times when I really got down,” he said. “I got frustrated. I felt like I was Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill and it was just going to knock me down again.

“But, at the end of the day, one thing about a scripted project like this is you can wait for the right time.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment isn’t wasting any time getting “Hatfields & McCoys” onto the market, announcing that the miniseries will be available on DVD/Blu-ray July 31. It will feature a bonus: “I Know These Hills,” a music video featuring Costner and his band, Modern West.

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Here: “Necessary Roughness” star Callie Thorne will be in Times Square (at 43rd. & Broadway) this Tuesday when USA auditions dancers competing for $25,000 and the chance to appear on USA. The “Show Us Your End Zone Dance Competition” runs nationwide through June 24 (facebook.com/necessaryroughness has info). “Roughness” kicks off its new season on Wednesday (at 10 p.m.) .

And there: The Meatpacking District’s legendary Florent Diner is the focus of David Sigal’s documentary, “Florent: Queen of the Meat Market,” premiering June 15 on PBS (11 p.m.).

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Last, but not least:

* Tuning out: “Oprah’s Next Chapter” hit an all-time viewership low last Sunday night on OWN — with only 257,000 viewers watching Winfrey’s interview with Newark Mayor Cory Booker . . . Jorge Garcia, Michelle Rodriguez and Wayne Brady, among others, will participate in The (RED) Rush Games, a tournament unfolding today through June 10 in which gamers compete against celebrities to raise funds and awareness about AIDS. Stiksgaming.com has more info . . . “General Hospital” star Laura Wright will be in the area this weekend to host wine tastings on Long Island (tomorrow) and in New Jersey (Sunday). She and her husband, John, own Standing Sun Wines in California’s Santa Ynez Valley . . . “River Monsters” finished its fourth-season as the top-rated series (in all demos) in Animal Planet history . . . Showtime has renewed “Nurse Jackie” (Edie Falco) for a fifth season set to begin shooting later this year . . . New York’s own Katz’s Deli is featured on “Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America,” kicking off a new season next Wednesday (9 p.m.) on Travel Channel . . . Maks & Max: Maksim Chmerkovskiy (“DWTS”) picking up Silver Jeans at Maxim’s Hot 100 Party (at Dream Downtown).