CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 A month before Kevin Costner puts the first installment of his multi-chapter Western 鈥淗orizon: An American Saga鈥 into theaters, the actor-director came to the Cannes Film Festival to unveil his self-financed passion project.
鈥淭wo of my boys are out fishing right now,鈥 Costner said with a grin in an interview at the Carlton Hotel. 鈥淎nd the three girls found their way onto a boat. So dad鈥檚 in here, stumping for his movie.鈥
The movie is actually two, or if Costner has his way, four. 鈥淗orizon: Chapter One,鈥 which runs three hours, will be released by Warner Bros. in theaters June 28. 鈥淐hapter Two鈥 follows August 16. Costner has scripts ready for parts three and four.
It's only the fourth time Costner, 69, has directed, following 1990鈥檚 鈥淒ances With Wolves,鈥 1997鈥檚 鈥淭he Postman" and 2003鈥檚 鈥淥pen Range." But when he has, Costner has usually done it with a clear-eyed passion for storytelling and character. That's on display in the wide-ranging epic 鈥淗orizon,鈥 with a cast including Sienna Miller, Abbey Lee, Sam Worthington and Costner.
It's also Costner's biggest gamble, ever. To raise the money for the $100 million-plus production, he mortgaged his seaside Santa Barbara, California, estate. He's been trying to make 鈥淗orizon鈥 for more than 30 years.
鈥淚 thank God for Cannes. I鈥檓 an independent filmmaker, essentially, and I鈥檓 here by myself," said Costner, whose film was to premiere Sunday. "So this is a high moment for me because it鈥檚 helping me create awareness for a movie. I don鈥檛 have all the money in the world to expose this movie. But I have my time and a platform here.鈥
Remarks have been lightly edited for brevity.
AP: What was your calculus in deciding to put your money into 鈥淗orizon鈥? What made it worth it to you?
COSTNER: You can spend your life just trying to make your pile grow bigger and bigger. And I鈥檝e not been really terribly great at that. I鈥檓 like anyone else, I鈥檇 like it to be big. But not at the expense of not doing what I feel like I鈥檝e love to do. If no one will help me do it and I believe strongly in its entertainment value 鈥 there鈥檚 commerce on my mind. But I don鈥檛 let it overshadow the entertainment value and essence of what I鈥檓 trying to portray. I don鈥檛 try to let the fear of that control my instincts on any level. I don鈥檛 want to live that way. If I was watching a movie about me and I thought, 鈥淥o, don鈥檛 risk your money and make something like that," what a (expletive).
AP: Was it an easy decision? You didn鈥檛 look around your seaside Santa Barbara estate and question mortgaging it?
COSTNER: No, it wasn鈥檛 an easy decision, but it was the decision I needed to make. It鈥檚 like, wow, why am I having to do this? I think I鈥檓 making mainstream entertainment. I don鈥檛 know what you felt about the movie but I felt like it鈥檚 really mainstream. I don鈥檛 feel that I鈥檓 an avant-garde type of a person. But yet I think my things are a little off. I鈥檓 willing to (in a wagon trail scene in the film) see a woman bathe because her desire to be clean was so pronounced. If you鈥檙e a woman, who wouldn鈥檛 want to be? But then in the next moment, you realize it鈥檚 against the rule, man. You could cost yourself your life. So that scene became important to make the next scene important. To me, a scene like that is just as important as a gun fight. And if that kind of scene doesn鈥檛 want to exist in a mainstream movie鈥
AP: Could this have been a series?
COSTNER: I guess. It will be. They鈥檙e going to break this up into a hundred pieces, you know what I mean? After four of these, they鈥檙e going to have 13, 14 hours of film and they鈥檙e going to turn into 25 hours of TV, and they鈥檙e going to do whatever they鈥檙e going to do. That鈥檚 just the way we live in our life but they鈥檒l also exist in this form. And that was important for me, to make sure that happened. And I was the one who paid for it.
AP: It's an audacious release plan, with the second film opening two months after the first. What appealed to you about that?
COSTNER: The studio wanted to try that. I knew this was going to come out fairly quickly, like every four or five months. That may have been easier. But this is something they feel like people can remember the first one and it can tie into the second one. I built into all of them a montage of what鈥檚 coming.
AP: Since directing 鈥淒ances With Wolves,鈥 you've directed 鈥淥pen Range" and starred in 鈥淲yatt Earp" and What keeps bringing you back to the West?
COSTNER: I like seeing behavior in men that makes sense. I make movies for men. I just make sure there鈥檚 great women characters because that鈥檚 really important to me. The backbone of our movie is actually women. I don鈥檛 like boys behaving stupid. I like the little boy who (fleeing an attack) takes the two horses and effectively saves his life. I like seeing people behave honestly in desperate situations. The heroism of a little boy saying 鈥淚鈥檒l stay with you, Dad鈥 is a really powerful moment. That鈥檚 my son (Hayes Costner) and it was very hard to watch.
AP: In dramatizing the drive West of settlers, what was the Native American perspective you wanted to consider?
COSTNER: Confusion about it. The colonel says, 鈥淚f we salt the earth with enough of their dead, the wagons won鈥檛 come anymore.鈥 When you鈥檙e that far out there, you can鈥檛 go. When people said goodbye in the East Coast, they didn鈥檛 come back. So the confusion for the Native American was they couldn鈥檛 make sense of that. Normally if you kill enough people they won鈥檛 bother you. But these Americans, these people were getting flyers saying you could have this land. There are salesmen in every century, every decade selling something they don鈥檛 really know what it is. It鈥檚 just America. It鈥檚 just this giant experiment of hope.
AP: But America means different things to different people, right? You have Chinese immigrants in the film as well.
COSTNER: When they weren鈥檛 useful, they were just cast away. And they had to create a sense of community and they came en masse. They came together and they were very industrious. They鈥檒l be the wealthiest people in that town until there鈥檚 a tipping point and racism kicks in and suddenly they鈥檙e gone, too. You watch. That鈥檚 what would happen in real life.
AP: What I鈥檓 getting at is there鈥檚 tragedy in this. Do you see westward expansion and your film as a tragedy?
COSTNER: There鈥檚 inevitable tragedy to it. And there鈥檚 divisions. You see a whole tribe break in half. You see a father break from a son.
AP: Have you already started shooting the third installment?
COSTNER: I鈥檝e shot three days and I continue to have to press for money to finish this. I have to figure out what else I can do to make this. But I鈥檓 not waiting to see how people feel. I know what this is, and I think if people love the movie experience, they have a really good chance of wanting to see the next one. That鈥檚 all I can believe. The prudent thing would be to wait, but I guess I鈥檓 not built for that wait.
AP: Some of the issues on 鈥淵ellowstone鈥 seemed to have to do with time and scheduling. What鈥檚 your feeling about your future with that series at this point?
COSTNER: 鈥淵ellowstone鈥 was really important in my life. I really loved that world and what we were able to do in five seasons. I only thought it would be one, but did five. I was willing to do three more 鈥 five, six and seven 鈥 but it just didn鈥檛 happen. Certain things were going on and it just didn鈥檛 happen. So the idea of going back, I鈥檓 open to that idea. But it鈥檚 based on everything that first three or four were based on, which is the scripts.
