Jessica Cullen
Warner Bros.
Kevin Costner’s career has been dominated with male-skewing projects, but the writer and director of Horzion: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has made sure to keep a spotlight on the stories of women, too.
Costner’s filmography was built upon Westerns, baseball, and big-scale extravaganzas. This – combined with his run as the hard-headed, no-nonsense patriarch in Yellowstone – means the majority of his fanbase is comprised of men.
And Costner knows it, too. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Horizon: An American Saga mastermind confirmed that his projects appeal to a very particular audience. However, there’s always one condition that comes with that; the inclusion of strong female characters.
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“I make movies for men,” Costner said. “That’s what I do. But I won’t make a movie unless I have strong women characters, and that’s how I’ve conducted my career. And I think that’s why I have a good following. I thank you women for dragging your men here. It was a Western, after all.”
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The addition of female characters in his movies is something that Costner claims to take into consideration from the get-go. In Horizon, it simply made sense to include the likes of Sienna Miller’s Frances and Jena Malone’s Lucy when detailing the many stories of settlers in the West.
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“When you start writing, you go, ‘Where’s the woman?’ It just drove the story in every plot line,” he said. “It just seemed to me to be so easy. I mean, I just hardly couldn’t conceive of a scene that didn’t involve women or a young girl raised by a strong woman.”
Horizon explores the stories of multiple characters, from travelers on a wagon trail to mothers on the run. At three hours and one minute long, it’s a hefty epic by any means. While the first installment has only just arrived, audiences won’t have long to wait until Chapter 2, which arrives on August 16, 2024.
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Related:
Kevin Costner reveals eye-watering amount of money he’s put into Horizon
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At the time of writing, Chapter 1 is sitting at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 70% Audience score.
For more, check out how to watch Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1. You can also check out all the Yellowstone cameos in Horizon. Or, find out how to watch every Kevin Costner Western.