Kevin Costner is trying to singlehandedly bring back the Western genre. It’s going totally okay for him. His epic movie series, Horizon, just screened its second part in Santa Barbara, and I really hope we get to see it on the big screen soon.
I liked the first part, and I deeply admire any filmmaker who believes so much in an idea that they’re willing to put their own money up to see it through.
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Costner has always been a vocal supporter of Westerns, and when he did his Q&A at the Santa Barbara Film Festival after showing his movie, he talked about why.
Costner explained that the American West was the promised land.
He said, “We were told if we could get across that Atlantic Ocean, there was a place. It was like the Garden of Eden, and if you were mean enough and tough enough, you could make it yours.”
He continued, “That dream that brought people across the Atlantic was a nightmare for the people who had been here for 15,000 years. This land was contested all the way across America. It was a bad ending for the Native Americans who existed here, but I’m not embarrassed about that, I’m just disturbed that we don’t know more about it. And I was always bothered that we didn’t have more women in our Westerns because there was no Western without women.”
One thing many people have noted about the Horizon movies is that Costner spent time telling the whole story, making sure the points of view in it were diverse and interesting.
That included having women settlers and natives on screen, with agency and goals.
‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’CREDIT: New Line Cinema
Costner went on to say, “For us to think that a woman couldn’t be co-opted right in front of a group of people, I think we’re kidding ourselves. It’s happening now, all around us across the world. When we started writing, we could not keep women out of it, and they just kept running down the themes of all our storylines. It was just easier with them in it.”
I think this is a pretty good point, especially when you’re making an epic. There would be no excuses for leaving women out of these stories, especially since, in real life, they were instrumental in moving westward and surviving on the plains.
It’s also nice that as we go over parity in gender roles on screen, we’re seeing women characters added to genres that used to be dominated by males. That can open these tropes up to subversion and bring new audiences in.
So, will we actually get to see the next installments of this epic series?
Costner said of that, “I started this in 1988. I couldn’t make it then and it didn’t seem like anybody liked it too much, so I thought ‘Fuck it, I’m going to write four more.’ I love Hollywood. I’m a romantic about what we can be and what we are.”
I’m hopeful those movies get made. Costner is an auteur, and I love living in his vision of the West.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
