Kevin Costner Calls His Shot for 'Horizon' Premiere Date Amid Studio Pushback
Kevin Costner's future on Yellowstone is up in the air, partly due to his focus on Horizon, an epic Western film series he is focused on finally finishing. Costner, 68, is planning to follow it up with three sequels to finish telling the story of characters pushing the American West to the Pacific Coast. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema are planning to release it, but no premiere date is set. Costner hopes to get the first part out this fall.
"I hope it comes out in the fall," Costner told Deadline in a joint interview with Francis Ford Coppola. "I'd like to take it to the Venice Film Festival. That's what I want if I get the chance. I love going to Europe, and I'd like to put that out there and let people know that's what my hope is." The 80th Venice International Film Festival is scheduled to start on Aug. 30 and ends on Sept. 9.
Costner is putting up much of the money to finish Horizon himself. "I've mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house," the filmmaker said. "But I did it without a thought. It has thrown my accountant into a f—ing conniption fit. But it's my life, and I believe in the idea and the story."
This is Costner's biggest gamble on himself since Dances With Wolves, and he clearly hopes Horizon will be as successful as that Oscar-winning epic. He packed the Horizon cast with A-listers, including Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Thomas Haden Church, Jenna Malone, and himself. There's also a stacked support cast, including Isabelle Furhman, Michael Rooker, Abbey Lee, Tom Payne, Jeff Fahey, Danny Huston, Will Patton and Angus Macfadyen. Costner wrote the script with Jon Baird and is producing.
Costner has been working on the story since 1988. After Costner's 2003 film Open Range was a success for Disney, Costner approached them with the project. They offered a budget of $5 million less than what Costner wanted, and he refused to sign. "Now, I'm stubborn, and I think probably Francis is too," Costner told Deadline. "Eight years later, I started thinking about the story, started writing with a partner, and it ended up being four screenplays. So I reverse-engineered everything from 1988. I thought it was really good. But I still couldn't get anybody to make it."
Costner eventually found a partner in Warner Bros., whose New Line label agreed to distribute it. However, there still isn't a solid release date beyond Costner's season target. In February, Puck News reported that Costner finished filming the first part, and Warner Bros. agreed to put up a small portion of the budget in exchange for domestic distribution rights. The studio might be unable to fulfill his wishes to get it out before the end of 2023 because it also has Dune: Part Two, Wonka, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on the schedule. Since Warner Bros. Discovery has been in cost-cutting mode since David Zaslav took over, it's unclear if the studio could afford to add another spectacle to its schedule. Whenever it does finally hit theaters, Horizon promises to be the first Western epic of its kind in decades.