Kevin Costner Directed His Post-Yellowstone $100m Western Because No Director Was Willing To Do It

With two movies funded and a third underway, is Horizon shaping up to be Kevin Costner’s most daring gamble ever?

Fans famously know Kevin Costner for his role as John Dutton in the Yellowstone universe. And while he had said goodbye to the show, he actually took a bold step in his career by directing and starring in Horizon: An American Saga.

The movie had a huge budget, as it was the actor’s passion project that he had been working on for years. But getting it made wasn’t easy despite Costner’s name being attached to it, so when no director was ready to direct it, Costner took matters into his own hands.

Kevin Costner risked it all to bring his dream western a reality

Actor Kevin Costner is known for his deep love for Westerns, and after stepping away from the Yellowstone world, he decided to go all in for his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga. This movie was on his mind since the late 1980s and wasn’t easy for him to bring to life.

Kevin Costner in a still from Horizon: An American Saga | Credits: New Line Cinema

In fact, when the actor tried to get other directors involved in the project, no one was willing to take it on. So, he did what he had to – he took control of things and decided to direct it himself. He revealed all of this and in an interview via The Talks and added:

You know, I’ve always thought that other people can direct better than me. But on this particular film, Horizon, almost no one believed in it, not even another director. So I decided that I would direct it! 

He also added that his love for Westerns comes from a deep connection to the genre and to American history. Costner was also inspired by classic filmmakers such as John Ford and writers like Him Harrison and grew up loving stories of the Old West.

Horizon was also a massive undertaking with a reported budget of $100 million via New York Post and plans for four full-length movies. While people didn’t believe that he could pull these movies off, the actor was determined. So much so that he founded the first two movies himself and has already stated working on the third.

Despite all the setbacks and obstacles, Costner believes in the story of Horizon so much that he’s literally risking it all to make sure it’s told exactly how he envisioned it.

Could Netflix be the saviour of Kevin Costner’s passion project?

Kevin Costner put a lot on the line for his western movie series Horizon. He believed in the project so much that he paid for much of it himself and left Yellowstone to fully focus on it. But things didn’t go as he had planned, as the first movie failed to capture the viewers. This left the actor dealing with the financial pressure of such a huge personal investment.

Kevin Costner in a still from Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 | Credits: New Line Cinema

Reports as per Yahoo suggest that he spent around $60 million of his own money on the project with the hope that it would match the success of Yellowstone. While there’s no denying that fans loved his role in the Taylor Sheridan-created series, when it came to Horizon, the reception was lukewarm and disappointing from the start.

What was even worse, the second movie didn’t even get a release in cinemas, despite having positive feedback from early screenings. Thankfully, the first movie found new life on Netflix, where it became one of the platform’s top 10 most-watched titles.

This gave Costner some hope, and according to the same Yahoo report, he’s now hoping that the streaming giant will buy the four-part series. If they do, it could help him recover some money he has already spent.

You can watch Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 on Netflix.