“I ought to just put a bullet in my head”: Kevin Costner Did What a Madman Would Do for His Horizon Saga After Trying and Failing Twice Before

After ruling the film industry, Kevin Costner recently took television by storm thanks to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone. Now, he is all set to return to the big screens and this time, it will be with his very own saga. Horizon: An American Saga is not just two or three films; it is a four-part American epic Western. Not only do the films star Kevin Costner in the lead role, but he has also directed, produced, and co-written them. Talk about an all-in-one deal!

The saga did not come easy. Kevin Costner had been pitching his idea to studios for a long time but he was always greeted with pushback. But that didn’t mean that the actor was going to give up on his dream project. He decided to take things into his own hands. Despite failing a few times before, he was going to be his own hero.

Kevin Costner Took Matters into His Own Hands

Kevin Costner had pitched Horizon as a single movie all the way back in 1988. While he couldn’t get anyone to agree to make the film he was not going to give up so easily. After the release of his 2003 Western film Open Range and its positive reception, Costner decided to give Horizon another go and this time, he approached Walt Disney Pictures.

With a difference of $5 million, Costner concluded the best thing to do was for him to walk away. But thanks to his stubbornness, he came back to the story eight years later and started co-writing with Jon Baird. What resulted was a four-part story but he still couldn’t get anyone to make it. That’s when he thought of putting his own money in the saga. He once told Deadline,

I commissioned this story in 1988. Single movie, two-hander. A conventional Western with a beginning, middle, and end. I couldn’t get anybody to make it. Then, right after I made ‘Open Range’ and it performed pretty well, I had a chance with Disney. We had a $5 million difference. They had had a lot of money success with Open Range, but a $5 million difference kept them from making this movie…

Now, I’m stubborn…Eight years later, I started thinking about the story, started writing with a partner, and it ended up being four screenplays…I thought it was really good. But I still couldn’t get anybody to make it… At the end of the day, I’m a storyteller, and I went ahead and put my own money into it.

In an interview with Empire Magazine (via Screen Rant), Costner revealed that after 2003, he tried to pitch the film again in 2009 but to no avail. In the end, tired of waiting around and wanting to prove everyone wrong, the Yellowstone actor decided to write four more films, something which he believes he should be in therapy for!

Well, there’s four of them. That’s why it’s a saga. And there’s actually a fifth one if you want to think back to 1988, because that script was good enough to make, and I never made it. I tried in 2003, I tried in 2009, and no-one would make it. I didn’t fall out of love with it. So basically what I did was, I did the unthinkable. Since nobody wanted the movie, I just thought I’d write four more, which probably means I should be in therapy. Really, I ought to just put a bullet in my head.

Horizon: An American Saga is Costner’s Western epic and will star a series of talented actors including Sam Worthington, Sienna Miller, Giovanni Ribisi, and more. The films will be set in the American Civil War period.

Kevin Costner is Confident about His Upcoming Saga

The movie industry all over the world has seen a drastic change recently. Movies are preferred to be watched from the comfort of homes and while it does attract millions of viewers, the magic of theatres seems to be fading. Some actors in Hollywood still believe in the theatre experience, and one of them happens to be Costner.

While he was offered to take his story to a streaming platform, Costner was confident that it belongs on the big screen.

He told Empire,

I had somebody who said, ‘Look, please don’t do this, Kevin, let’s do this.’ But I’m glad about what I’m doing. I believe in the big screen. I believe in that experience. I also believe in what will come to your television. You know, I’m not one of those guys that has a director’s cut. The f-cking movie I make is the director’s cut.

In the end, Costner stated that while he hopes the films will bring him his money back, he won’t be disheartened if they don’t.

My hope is that I get this money back, but you know what, I’m not going to fall apart if it [doesn’t happen]. I’ll lose some things that I had valued, but they’re just things I’ve kept.

While the first two films of the saga will soon be hitting the theatres, the third one has already started shooting and the fourth is in development.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 will be released in theatres on June 28, 2024, and Chapter 2 on August 16, 2024.