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| (Photo Credit: Oscar 2022) |
It’ll be Costner’s first time directing a movie since 2003. And because it’s Kevin Costner, he’ll also star in and produce Horizon, a sweeping Western that takes place over 15 years. The movie’s timeline starts before the Civil War and uses western expansion as its backdrop.
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For Kevin Costner, Horizon Is Obvious Comparison to Dances With Wolves
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| (Photo Credit: Paramount Network) |
Comparing Horizon to Dances with Wolves is an obvious one. Costner discussed his project with Deadline earlier this year. Here’s how he described it:
“America’s expansion into the west was one that was fraught with peril and intrigue from the natural elements,” Kevin Costner said of Horizon. “To the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it. Horizon tells the story of that journey in an honest and forthcoming way, highlighting the points of view and consequences of the characters life and death decisions.”
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The movie is set to start production on Aug. 29, on location in Utah. So far, Costner’s name is the only one attached to the cast. He co-wrote the script with Jon Baird. They worked together for the first time back in 2015. This was when they co-wrote a novel called The Explorers Guild, Volume One: A Passage to Shambhala.
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| (Photo Credit: Paramount Network) |
Toby Emmerich, who is chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said the studio was anxious to work with Costner. “Kevin’s ambitious vision for this story is the perfect crystallization of his affinity for the American West,” Emmerich told Deadline. “And (his) passion to bring this turning point in its history to life with all the human drama, cultural complexity and immense scope that it merits.”
Costner said he was “thrilled” to team with Warner Bros. and New Line again.
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Costner presented Best Director at last month’s Academy Awards. He talked briefly about how the western How the West Was Won influenced his career choice. Costner was seven when he first saw the movie and mentioned that he later learned three directors were responsible for the movie.
“They fired my imagination, and they captured my heart,” Costner said in his Oscar remembrance. “That’s what can happen when you direct a movie. You can change a mind. You can change the trajectory of a life, of a career. (And) you can capture a heart. But you can’t do it alone.”