Kevin Costner: 'Horizon' settlers saw America as Garden of Eden

NEW YORK, June 27 (UPI) -- Writer, director, producer and actor Kevin Costner says Horizon: An American Saga aspires to tell a story so big it needs four movies and nearly 12 hours to cover it all.

"When I do a story, I don't want to stop 'til it's finished," Costner, 69, told reporters in a virtual press conference with his cast on Monday.

"When I look at it, I try to understand what it was. And it was really a journey. It's not a plot movie. And so, it was four," he said. "My idea was not to wait to see if the first one was successful. I believe in telling this story. The only way this is successful, in my mind, is that it's complete."

The first chapter of the film series, opening in theaters Friday, follows several groups during the Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West by Europeans on lands held by Indigenous people in the 19th century.

Costner thinks the story will be relatable to people everywhere since the main theme is the quest for freedom and prosperity.

"We're not really all that different," he said. "Maybe not sharing the same language or customs, but if you think about America, it's really not that old in comparison to the rest of the world."

"What that really means is we started to get news [in Europe] about America about 400 years ago. It was doing quite nicely without us," he continued. "There was a promise out here, that there was a land so big that it went so far that they could have what they didn't have in Europe.

I refer to it as the Garden of Eden. They didn't realize there was a people here who had been flourishing for 15,000 years. And these two ideas came into conflict from sea to shining sea and our story deals with that."

Chapter 1 of the series co-stars Sienna Miller, Abbey Lee, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Owen Crow Shoe, Tatanka Means, Ella Hunt, Tim Guinee, Danny Huston, Tom Payne, Michael Rooker, Will Patton, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jamie Campbell Bower and Wasé Winyan Chief.

Costner said he wanted to include the female perspective here since the Western genre has, in the past, focused mainly on male characters.

"Not only do our storylines run right through my women, the story is not possible without them," he added.

Miller plays Frances Kittredge, a frontier woman whose husband and sons are killed when a war party of Indigenous men burn down their village.

Frances and her young daughter manage to stay alive by hiding underground and using the barrel of a shot gun to breathe air from the surface.

They are rescued when the U.S. Cavalry, led by Trent Gephart (Worthington), arrive to escort them to a safer location.

"She's such a survivor," Miller said about Frances.

"She's so courageous, and I think to tell a story about the kind of inception of America as we know it today, that doesn't include women, is really disingenuous," she added. "Every character in this has something going on. Mine is incredibly brave and courageous and resentful, but forward-thinking and compromising her own needs for her daughter."

Worthington said Trent doesn't love his latest mission for the federal government.

"The character doesn't really understand the Frontier Wars," the actor said. "I think the Civil War makes perfect sense to him. Maybe he'd much rather be fighting that."

Lee plays Marigold, a prostitute who accompanies Costner's drifter Hayes Ellison, to an encampment.

"Most of my scenes are with Kevin, and what I found quite fascinating is that he felt to me like a very different man as a director and an actor," Lee said.

"As a director, he's really passionate and he has a lot of energy. He sort of runs around set or he's on horseback running around set and giving people notes. And he has so much commanding energy and such strong leadership qualities. That is really important on a set that size where there's not just actors and extras, there's cattle and donkeys," she added.

"There's crazy weather happening and he just has so much energy and he keeps the morale going every day."

According to Lee, Costner is more gentle and relaxed as an actor.

"Rather than feeling like you're doing a scene with someone who's acting, it's just a man in front of you, communicating with you. And I found that really just lovely, a really nice way to work," she said.

Hunt plays Juliette Chesney, a pampered British woman on a wagon train, who doesn't seem to understand the risks her trip across America will entail.

"I had a glorious time making these films, even with the grit of the character's experiences," Hunt said.

"I was so excited to play this woman who, on the face of it, is a bit of a challenge. She can be a bit difficult to love. She is forthright and so protective of her husband. But it comes out of love for her and like Sienna was saying, ultimately, she's a survivor. She kind of has no other choice."

This is Costner's first directing project since 2003's Open Range. His other credits include Yellowstone, Wyatt Earp and Dances with Wolves.

He is currently filming the third Horizon story. Chapter 2 is set to open in the theaters in August.