Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Kevin Costner understood the central role of faith as he created his Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga.”
”Faith is what guided people out there to the unknown,” the actor told “The Christian Post.” “They just leaned on it. There was this promise, but the promise was not enough. You had to go on faith. And people brought the religion with them west.”
His own faith tradition inspired him.
“I grew up a Baptist, and church has always been a part of my life, my grandmother. the whole thing, so I don’t mind it bleeding into a movie,” the actor said. “I don’t force it in. But when I think about why people went west, when they said goodbye to people back east, they never saw them again, there was some kind of trust that people needed to lean on, because they were oftentimes in situations where they didn’t even know what they were doing. They were out of control, they needed faith.”
Costner stars in “Horizon” alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Luke Wilson, and also directed, produced and cowrote the three-hour film, the first of a four-part series. The first installment debuts in theaters on June 28. “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2” will be released six weeks later, on August 12, while the third is expected to be released in 2025.
Filmed in Moab, Utah, and set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, “Horizon” captures the intense emotional landscape of a nation divided, viewed through the interconnected lives of families, friends and adversaries striving to define what it means to be a nation.
It’s a passion project for Costner, who has been working on the franchise since the 1980s and even invested $38 million of his own money into it. He said prolonged creation process required a steadfast belief that the film would come to fruition in its own time.
“I’ve had hands over me, for sure, in my life, and I’m like anybody, I try to force it,” he said. “I try to force things through force of will, and I’ve been able to do that a lot in my life. But I’ve also found that things come in their own time. I think that’s how my career’s gone, to be honest. Everything in its own time, I didn’t burst onto the scene as a teenager. It took me a while. So, I trust my journey.”
Despite not being a faith-based film, Costner stressed the profound influence faith and family had on the narrative. “I wanted scripture to obviously relate to the situation,” Costner said.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
