Kevin Costner's 'Horizon: An American Saga' is a multifaceted story that covers the expansion and settlement of the American West during the Civil War. Director, co-writer & star Costner, as well as other members of the film’s cast including Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Abbey Lee, Ella Hunt & Isabelle Fuhrman, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about working on the Western.
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00:00When I feel like I like a movie, I feel like audiences will like it. And when I saw Horizon,
00:06I just felt strongly that the world and America in particular could go west with me and feel like
00:14they saw things in a way they'd never seen them before.
00:16Kevin Costner's Horizon, an American saga, is a multifaceted story that covers the expansion
00:21and settlement of the American West during the Civil War. Director, co-writer, and star Costner,
00:26as well as other members of the film's cast, including Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington,
00:30Luke Wilson, and Jamie Campbell-Bauer, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about working
00:35on the Western. This film has a huge ensemble cast and there are several different storylines
00:40going on at the same time. Why did you think it was important to tell all of these stories
00:44in this film? It was more interesting to me that people are coming for different reasons,
00:50that people who are coming don't even know each other, that people who are going to end up in
00:54Horizon had no idea they were going to end up in Horizon. That circumstance played a large part in
01:02how people's lives were changed in the West. Costner plays the character Hayes Ellison in
01:07the film, but he's also the mastermind behind the project that he's dreamed of bringing to
01:11the big screen since 1988. How would you describe Kevin Costner as a director?
01:15I love Kevin. I think his passion is unbridled. He's so, so an encyclopedia of knowledge. You
01:22could ask him anything about this moment in history and he would have an answer. He's really
01:26forensically examined it and it's his passion and so you just feel swept up in all of that.
01:32Yeah, he's a very particular director because I think he's lived with this for so long,
01:37so he actually knows how detailed he wants each beat and he knows exactly what he wants.
01:44He has an extraordinary generosity of spirit which he imbues in every person that he hires
01:52on these films, not just the actors but the background and the artisans. He really had so
01:58much trust and belief in us and in himself and imbued that to every single person on set and
02:04that felt like there was this infectious energy that we were all creating something that he said
02:10hoped would live on forever. As a director, really sensitive guy and it makes me think
02:15back to talking to Kevin. It took him six years to get his SAG card and he also worked as the
02:22stage manager of Raleigh Studios, so he has almost this kind of old-fashioned kind of
02:28history in Hollywood where I think he doesn't take anything for granted.
02:32Kevin, of course, is the director of this film but you also both got to act opposite him.
02:37How would you compare working with Kevin as a fellow actor to as a director?
02:42I found that he's quite a different man as an actor and as a director. As a director,
02:46he's a very powerful man. He's a very strong leader. He's got a lot of energy. He's very
02:52playful. He kind of seems to be running about all over the place. And then as an actor,
02:57he's a lot gentler and calmer. Ditto. Yeah, I know. They're beautiful.
03:01He's just super generous. I mean, a lot of my stuff is with him. So I had both Kevin,
03:08the director, and the actor and we're figuring each other out as actors in the scene and in
03:13that moment and how our hearts are responding. And he's obviously also thinking about how he's
03:17going to shoot this, what he wants from it. And that's a really different dynamic. I've
03:22never worked with an actor-director before, so it's very, very special. Super special.
03:26Men will come try you. They will take from you until you are wiped clean from this land.
03:34I'm just saying that's something you might want to keep in mind.
03:36Horizon has been dubbed a passion project for Costner,
03:39who now famously put in $38 million of his own money to help make the film series.
03:43There are so many headlines already surrounding this movie, from how much of your own money you've
03:47put into it to the critical response. But behind it all, it's a film that you're clearly really
03:51passionate about and that you really stand behind. Why are you so passionate about this
03:55project, and why do you think audiences are going to love it?
03:58I don't know why. It just speaks to me out loud, and that's been my kind of guide,
04:03my North Star of anything I've done. I thought Field of Dreams was good,
04:07you know, and I thought Tin Cup was good. I thought Bull Durham was a really nice movie,
04:11and Bodyguard was a movie that wasn't going to be made. It was written 17 years earlier.
04:17No Way Out was a movie called Finish with Engines. It had been written,
04:22no one was going to make it. So when I feel like I like a movie, I feel like audiences will like it.
04:29And when I saw Horizon, I just felt strongly that the world, and America in particular,
04:37could go west with me and feel like they saw things in a way they'd never seen them before.
04:43Horizon An American Saga Chapter 1 hits theaters Friday. Chapter 2 is set to be released later this
04:48summer on August 16th. For more on the Horizon Saga, head to THR.com.
04:52For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.