Move over, James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola: there’s another triple-OG Hollywood auteur rolling out an ambitious, decades-in-the-making passion project, riding in on the heels of a lot of studio doubt, industry curiosity, and audience hype. We finally have the trailer for the first installment of Horizon, Kevin Costner’s grand four-part western saga, and by the looks of it, the Old Hollywood feeling is about to be restored.
Set in the still-wild post-Civil War west, Horizon aims to fully bring the American western epic back into style, a movement Costner’s already been a part of lately as the star of Paramount+’s hugely popular contemporary family drama Yellowstone. Horizon, however, finds the veteran back in the director’s chair—for the first time since 2003’s Open Range, also a western—and co-writing this sweeping story of Western settlers versus indigenous tribes, suspicious postwar Americans versus each other, and traumatized men versus their own demons.
It’s a story Costner’s been sitting on for the better part of 30 years, and one that he’s bet on himself to tell, reportedly taking a loan out on his Santa Barbara home to finance the film, which—it must be reiterated—will be a four-part saga. There’s a lot riding on this, but the trailer for Part One seems to promise all the hallmarks of a great western, complete with sweeping shots of the American plains, thrilling horseback chases, sieges, and quick-draw gunplay. There’s also an appropriately stacked cast, with expected-but-always-welcome names like Costner’s Yellowstone co-star Danny Huston, but also some greats we haven’t heard from significantly in awhile, like Giovanni Ribisi and Luke Wilson.
If the story seems a little too classic on paper, Costner is, intriguingly, promising a tale that leans into the real grit of the era that most films in the genre have since strayed away from. “We have a lot of Westerns that aren’t good too because they get simplified [but] this isn’t Disneyland,” Costner said at a panel debuting the trailer. “I’m always gonna get to my gunfight, but I’m drawn to the little things that people had to endure. So to me, Horizon was worth holding on to because I just felt like I wanted to tell it. It grew and it grew and it grew until suddenly I realized that I just had to make it, and I had to look to myself financially to do it — which is not the smartest thing. But I count on the movie speaking louder than anything I can say.”
It’s going to have to speak pretty loudly if he wants to fully execute his story as he’s envisioned it. Part One is due on June 28 with Part Two to follow in August—but Three and Four haven’t been shot yet. Can the guy who took Dances With Wolves all the way to a Best Picture win make Old Hollywood magic strike in 2024? We’ll see this summer, but either way, it’s always exciting when the veterans return in a big way, putting passion projects over IP. Watch the Horizon trailer below.
