Kevin Costner Says ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Is His ‘Most Challenging’ Film

Exclusive: The writer/director/producer/star of the four-part film series detailed his inspiration in the foreword for "The Great Horizon: Photographing Kevin Costner's 'American Saga.'"

Kevin Costner has famously been a champion of Westerns, and now, the writer/director/producer/star of “Horizon: An American Saga” is explaining why he is haunted by the genre.

During the foreword for “The Great Horizon: Photographing Kevin Costner’s ‘American Saga,’” the “Yellowstone” actor detailed how there has been “no greater narrative than the arduous journey of men and women from across America in pursuit of a dream,” which is the foundation of Westerns. Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga” might be an awards season dark horse, but it’s just one of a slated four-part film series that explores the evolution of the American West during the Civil War. “Part Two” debuted at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, but has yet to announce a release date.

The filming of the first installment was captured by photographer Cale Glendening. “The Great Horizon” (Weldon Owen, out November 26), is the official making-of book that includes intimate casts portraits and behind-the-scenes photography. The book features more than 250 never-before-seen images, essays ,and reflections on filming from the cast and crew, and script excerpts.

Costner’s foreword deems “Horizon: An American Saga” the “most challenging journey” of any film he made in his career.

“The making of ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ has been the most challenging journey I’ve ever undertaken,” Costner wrote. “In my heart, I’m a storyteller, and there has arguably been no greater narrative than the arduous journey of men and women from across America in pursuit of a dream. Their dream was passionately fought for, and achieved only by some, and even then, only through the blood, sweat, and tears of many. Tracking those dreams toward the West resulted in the nightmares of the peoples who had lived and thrived there for centuries. This was a story I needed to tell.”

Costner continued, “I wanted to reach beyond the myth and tell the story of the everyday people forging a new chapter in the story of America amidst the savagery of conflict, across vast distances, in a country at war with itself. All were captivated by the uncertain promise of a better future: traders and trackers, surveyors and settlers, missionaries and soldiers, lawmen and outlaws — people just making their way. I wanted to tell their story through the lens of families, friends, and foes, all attempting to change their destinies. From European settlers to White Mountain Apache, from Chinese merchants to Pima cavalry scouts, they each wrote their own story, heading into chapters unknown and unknowable.”

The excerpt states, “They believed in the journey and were willing to risk everything. The women especially faced intense hardship, but showed tremendous resilience in trying to keep their families clean, fed, and healthy. It is important to me that their stories are firmly at the center of all of the chapters of ‘Horizon: An American Saga.’ We can only measure our lives against the generations that came before and wonder whether we would have been as resourceful, as tenacious, as brave.”

And Costner also reflected on the current state of the nation, too.

“In America, now as then, everyone is looking for something — opportunity, vision, belief,” Costner wrote. “The making of the first two chapters of the ‘Horizon’ movie cycle has been a lengthy, onerous journey of opportunity, vision, and belief. I trust you’ll experience a strong sense of that through Cale Glendening’s photography from the sets of ‘Horizon: An American Saga’; witness that in the faces of the exceptional actors; and feel the enduring appeal of the American West in Cale’s photography of the spectacular canyons of Utah. And when you sit down in the dark and the movie begins, I hope you too will experience the lure of a dream of the American West and immerse yourself in the compelling stories of those men and women who pursued it and those who were impacted by it.”

Costner previously said during IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast that he finds “comfort” in the Western genre itself.

“I hope people like that part of movies. I don’t know if they do anymore, but that’s not my problem. I do like it, so when I make them, it’s still going to be there,” he said, adding, “I love my gunfights, but I’m not in a rush to get to them. I’m in love with the language, and I think it informs [the action]. I’m willing to take my time saying the lines I want against these big spaces.”

Check out the first look at “The Great Horizon: Photographing Kevin Costner’s ‘American Saga'” by Cale Glendening below.