For Hollywood icon Kevin Costner, telling the story of America’s frontier past has at all times been a matter of religion. While the 69-year-old Oscar-winning actor and director knew that an authentic depiction of the settler’s stories wouldn’t be possible without portraying the crucial role that faith played in sustaining them on their gruelling path to a latest home, it will even be vital within the long journey of bringing ‘Horizon: An American Saga’, to the large screen.
“Faith is what guided people on the market to the unknown,” Costner told The Christian Post. “They just leaned on it. There was this promise, however the promise was not enough. You needed to go on faith. And people brought the faith with them west.”
Set against the backdrop of one in every of America’s most tragic and bloody upheavals, the Civil War, ‘Horizon’ follows the intertwining lives of families, friends, and adversaries from 1861 to 1865, as a divided nation fights to determine what type of country the United States of America must be.
Costner stars alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Luke Wilson, but in addition directed, produced, and co-wrote the three-hour film, the primary of a four-part series. The project is Costner’s magnum opus, and he has poured his passion into the franchise because the ’80s, even investing $38 million of his own money into it. It was over the course of this long road that faith sustained Costner, who told CP that he needed to cling to a steadfast belief that the film would come to fruition in its own time.
“I’ve had hands over me, needless to say, in my life, and I’m like anybody, I attempt to force it,” the ‘Yellowstone’ actor said. “I attempt to force things through force of will, and I’ve been capable of do this lots in my life. But I’ve also found that things are available their very own time. I believe that is how my profession’s gone, to be honest. Everything in its own time, I didn’t burst onto the scene as a young person. It took me some time. So, I trust my journey.”
However, ‘Horizon’ shouldn’t be any type of traditional faith-based project. A gritty portrayal of the customarily violent and lawless Old West and the settler’s fraught relationship with Native Americans saw it receive an “R” rating for violence, nudity, and sexuality. However, it’s also infused with spiritual themes, depicting the profound faith many families possessed, and weaving in verses of Scripture with character dialogue.
“I wanted [Scripture to] obviously relate to the situation,” Costner said. “I grew up a Baptist and church has at all times been a component of my life, my grandmother, the entire thing, so I do not mind it bleeding right into a movie.
“I do not force it in. But once I take into consideration why people went west, after they said goodbye to people back east, they never saw them again, there was some type of trust that folks needed to lean on, because they were oftentimes in situations where they didn’t even know what they were doing. They were uncontrolled, they needed faith.”
The movie reflects Costner’s belief that “violence and humanity can go together”, and the director hopes that the film’s message will resonate with audiences, and turn out to be something they may wish to share with younger generations. Costner, who has an extended and storied profession within the Western genre, wants the film’s legacy to be a nuanced understanding of America’s historical narrative, one that does not draw back from the tough realities and cultural clashes of the era but still celebrates the resourcefulness and courage of those that ventured West.
“I hope that it stands by itself. I’m not trying to reinvent the West or set the record straight,” he said.
“This was hard fought for. The resourcefulness it took for the folks that got here out, not even being necessarily equipped to be within the West, is something that I like. But I also understand the nice clash that happened between cultures and what we lost.
“There were folks that were displaced. So, I do not ignore any of it. I just go after it. I hope I land on the side of behaviour and authenticity.”
