Kevin Costner’s passion project is almost here.
Warner Bros. Pictures presented the first trailer for his Horizon: An American Saga on Monday. The epic – which star Costner, 69, also directed and co-wrote – spans two films, both of which will hit theaters this summer.
According to the synopsis, Horizon “It explores the allure of the Old West and how it was won – and lost – through the blood, sweat and tears of many.”
Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey through a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of family, friends and enemies all trying to discover what it truly means to be American. States of America,” adds the synopsis.
In a special virtual event and moderated discussion about the trailer on Friday, Costner said of the film’s title: “When you realize that the land is bigger and farther than anyone ever dreamed, it’s about the horizon, because everybody’s looking for something even today in relationships and to what’s happening at work, they’re looking for space, they’re looking for fresh air. And our 200-year march through this country was no different.”
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Enter Kevin Costner Horizon: An American Saga (2024).
Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube
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For Costner, one of his goals with Horizon was to “project what really happened” during that particular time in American history.
“There’s been a great injustice done in the West, but that doesn’t diminish the courage it took for my ancestors to actually break free and go there,” said the actor and director. “And I recognize the resourcefulness that was required, the courage that was required to go and make this march across this country.”
Costner specifically added about the trailer: “I hope this is something that sticks [audiences] forever when they watch the movie and I try to find moments in the trailer in 3 minutes to try to give people a sense of where I could take them.”
HorizonThe cast also includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt and Jamie Campbell Bower.
Sienna Miller and Michael Rooker in Kevin Costner’s film Horizon: An American Saga (2024).
Warner Bros.
In May 2023, Costner said in an Instagram post that he hadn’t “felt this way about a movie since we shot it Dances with Wolves,” referring to his Oscar-winning 1990 epic.
The Yellowstone the actor told Deadline the following month that he had been developing the film franchise in various forms since 1988 and had a hard time getting “anyone to do it.” Instead, he partially financed the project himself by taking out a mortgage on his 10-acre home in Santa Barbara, California, he revealed at the time.
“I mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house,” he said. “But I did it without thinking. That sent my accountant into a freaking biting fit. But that’s my life and I believe in the idea and the story.”
Poster for Kevin Costner Horizon: An American Saga (2024).
Pictures by Warner Bros
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“At the end of the day, I’m a storyteller and I put my money into it,” he added to the paper. “I’m not a very good businessman, so scratch your head if you want. I don’t know why, but I didn’t let this one go.”
Costner told PEOPLE in November 2022 that his son Hayes will also appear in the film. At the time, the father of seven joked about it Horizon‘s “scenario [has] it’s been around longer than 15-year-old Hayes’ entire life.
He also said in the same interview that the film was “incredibly meaningful to me” and “the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s exactly what I want to do.”
Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1 it’s in theaters June 28, coming up 2. Chapter August 16.
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Source: HIS Education