Kevin Costner has admitted it wasn’t an ‘easy decision’ mortgaging his Santa Barbara estate in order to finance $100M passion project film Horizon: An American Saga.
The movie premiered during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday might, with his co-star Sienna Miller wowing on the red carpet.
And the actor, 69, who also stars in and directed the project, has been working on the story for 30 years after finding it difficult to get the cash together for it.
It has been reported that the star personally raised around $50 million of Horizon’s massive $100 million budget.
Kevin is said to have a net worth of around $250 million and was collecting a reported $1.5 million per episode of his hit show Yellowstone, making him the best-paid actor on TV.
Kevin Costner has admitted it wasn’t an ‘easy decision’ mortgaging his Santa Barbara estate in order to finance $100M passion project film Horizon: An American Saga
The actor, 69, who also stars in and directed the project, has been working on the story for 30 years after finding it difficult to get the cash together for it
The movie premiered during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday might, with his co-star Sienna Miller wowing on the red carpet
Speaking in a press conference for the film on Monday he was asked by The Associated Press if it was an ‘easy decision’ to mortgage his seaside Santa Barbara estate.
He replied: ‘No, it wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the decision I needed to make. It’s like, wow, why am I having to do this? I think I’m making mainstream entertainment.
‘I don’t know what you felt about the movie but I felt like it’s really mainstream. I don’t feel that I’m an avant-garde type of a person. But yet I think my things are a little off.’
When asked what was his calculus in deciding to put his money into Horizon and what made it worth it to him he added: ‘You can spend your life just trying to make your pile grow bigger and bigger.
‘And I’ve not been really terribly great at that. I’m like anyone else, I’d like it to be big. But not at the expense of not doing what I feel like I’ve love to do. If no one will help me do it and I believe strongly in its entertainment value – there’s commerce on my mind.
‘But I don’t let it overshadow the entertainment value and essence of what I’m trying to portray. I don’t try to let the fear of that control my instincts on any level. I don’t want to live that way.
‘If I was watching a movie about me and I thought, ‘Oo, don’t risk your money and make something like that,’ what a (expletive).’
It has been reported that the star personally raised around $50 million of Horizon’s massive $100 million budget
Kevin is said to have a net worth of around $250 million and was collecting a reported $1.5 million per episode of his hit show Yellowstone, making him the best-paid actor on TV
It comes as the epic has been slammed by critics on Rotten Tomatoes and received scathing reviews despite getting a 10 minute standing ovation at Cannes
The film has a staggeringly low 20% on the Tomatometer – this score represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show
Kevin got teary-eyed during a 10-minute standing ovation following the premiere screening of the film
Despite the huge budget the film has been slammed by critics, despite earning a 10-minute standing ovation from the audience following its premiere screening on Sunday.
Horizon: An American Saga is a multi-chapter epic Western film that follows the American Civil War and the expansion of the American west.
Kevin not only plays the lead role but also serves as director, producer and co-writer with Job Baird – and the actor got teary-eyed during the long applause moments after the credits fell.
However, his happiness could be short-lived as not all critics are fans of the three-hour-long western movie, which has received some scathing reviews and a very low score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film has a staggeringly low 20% on the Tomatometer – this score represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show.
As the movie has not actually been released yet, it’s yet to produce an Audience Score, which represents the percentage of users who have rated a movie or TV show positively.
Critics are not holding back with their opinions on the epic, with Richard Lawson from Vanity Fair penning: ‘At least Horizon accomplishes one staggering feat: it makes one wonder if we were maybe a little too hard on The Postman.’
He described the film as ‘far from stately, or even coherent,’ instead describing it as ‘a jumble of clichéd plots rendered in washed-out color’.
The critic adds that it ‘doesn’t feel like a film at all’ as viewers are introduced to ‘a television season’s worth of characters and plot threads’.
Meanwhile, Variety’s Owen Gleiberman agrees that it ‘doesn’t feel like a movie. It feels like the seedbed for a miniseries’.
He wrote: ‘As a stand-alone film (which it isn’t, but let’s pretend for a moment), ‘Horizon’ is by turns convoluted, ambitious, intriguing, and meandering. But it’s never quite moving.
‘It’s too busy laying down narrative tracks and hammering out the minutiae of situations that don’t feel like they’re leading anywhere special.’
Lee Marshall from Screen Daily also comments negatively on the number of storylines, quipping: ‘Costner’s Civil-war set epic offers an old-fashioned celebration of the pioneer spirit – and a clutch of storylines that never quite have time to engage before the film moves on.
‘Even an audience who may have enjoyed Costner’s pensive Montana bullet ballet (2003) risk being alienated by Horizon’s bracingly abrupt pivots between its various stories.’
Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian rated the movie a measly two out of five stars, writing that it ‘doesn’t establish anything exciting for its various unresolved storylines, and doesn’t leave us suspensefully hanging for anything else’.
He continued: ‘Aside from some mildly diverting moments, it spends 180 keeping you guessing as to when and whether it is going to be interesting.’
Despite the slew of scathing reviews, there were also some positive opinions among them.
Pete Hammond from Deadline Hollywood wrote: ‘For Costner, this is an impressive beginning, with the promise of more to come.’
Meanwhile, The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin also praised the movie, writing: ‘Costner and Jon Baird’s tonally precise script has three main stories play out side by side – but takes its time with each, allowing their flavours to build in long, unhurried scenes.’
Costner previously revealed in June 2022 that he planned on making four Horizon films in all, shot back-to-back.
Most recently, the second film finished production last summer, but then production on the third film was paused due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
So far, there’s no official word on when the other chapters will premiere in theaters.
Sienna Miller is among the star-studded ensemble cast that also includes Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, Jamie Campbell Bower and Thomas Haden Church, among many others.
As the movie has not actually been released yet, it’s yet to produce an Audience Score, which represents the percentage of users who have rated a movie or TV show positively
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One is set to premiere in theaters on June 28, and then Chapter Two will follow and debut on August 16
Sienna Miller is among the star-studded ensemble cast that also includes Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston and Luke Wilson
The actor and producer has had a long love for the Wild West and American history, and he’s been able to bring that passion to life in a manner through film on a number of occasions.
‘A lot of times we measure ourselves against other generations. I think about what was at stake. How did people survive? There’s a rawness and an unpredictability about it. I’m haunted by that,’ he explained to People in November 2022.
He went on to explain just how difficult it was to make Horizon, but at the same time confessed it’s exactly what he should be doing at the moment.
‘Horizon is incredibly meaningful to me,’ he said. ‘It’s really been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s exactly what I want to do.’
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One is set to premiere in theaters on June 28, and then Chapter Two will follow and debut on August 16.