The wait is over for Kevin Costner fans who might be bummed he’s not returning to Yellowstone. Fret not, since Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is finally out this week, with Chapter 2 following soon. Say what you will about the release strategy and the films, but this sprawling Western is a refreshing change of scenery from the wildly different content that’s been gracing the box office as of late. Warner Bros. is bringing Costner’s vision to life in cinemas everywhere, and he’s got a wildly talented supporting cast to keep up the momentum in this three-hour first installment.

That includes Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), and Ella Hunt (Anna and the Apocalypse), who share a number of scenes together in the first chapter via their traveling wagon-train side story across the mountains and deserts in search of the titular promised land. We recently caught up with the trio in a group interview to learn more about Costner’s creative process and what it was like being part of what they see as cinematic history.

Horizon: An American Saga Surpassed Their ‘Wildest Expectations’
Horizon Horizon centers around fictional characters and takes place in pre- and post-Civil War America, and details the exploration of the American West. Depicting a twelve-year span, the movies feature an ensemble cast portraying various characters and their experiences pioneering into new territory from their homes.Release Date June 28, 2024 Runtime 3h 1m Studio(s) Warner Bros. Pictures , New Line Cinema , Territory Pictures Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Expand

Even if Westerns aren’t your go-to film genre, Costner’s star power is something that can’t be disputed. “He’s kind of a throwback movie star — kind of, to me, like the last movie star, him and Tom Cruise,” Wilson told MovieWeb. “When we went to Cannes to have the [Horizon] world premiere, Kevin had never had a movie at Cannes before, which I just couldn’t believe.”

And it’s not just Costner’s star presence that will captivate you in Chapter 1. The visuals, performances, and production value are all first-rate. “This shoot really surpassed my wildest expectations of what making a movie could feel like,” said Hunt. “I think that was kind of the case for us across the board.” She continued:

“I mean, the combination of our extraordinary locations — we were shooting out in Moab and St. George, and just really, really beautiful places — and Kevin’s generosity of spirit, the passion he has for this project, and the way that he imbues his belief in all of his artisans and cast and background, it was just sort of
a second-to-none experience to me, and not something I could have ever anticipated
.”

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Rising Up to Kevin Costner’s Level

As Horizon co-star Danny Huston told us, Costner’s project is “like a fat novel. It goes through time. It has many characters. It’s incredibly ambitious.” It doesn’t wrap everything up in Chapter 1, and instead will be remembered as a massive nine-hour epic that marries cinema with literature. At least that’s what Costner hopes, and he truly rallied the troops to this end, convincing the cast and crew that they were part of something important. Isabelle Fuhrman explained:

“He not only imbued this belief in us that we could do justice to these characters he had written, but imbued this belief in our entire crew from the ground up that
we were all working on something that was bigger than just a film, it was something that we hope will live on forever
. And it really just felt like every day was a joy for him as much as it was for us. And that kind of energy is just infectious to be around.”

Since Costner has Oscars and other accolades under his belt, it goes without saying that there carries a certain amount of pressure in joining a grand-scale project like Horizon. “You really have to rise up to the material and rise up to the location and the wardrobes and the horses and the other actors,” said Wilson. “I’m 52, and I’ve really just been thinking, like, ‘OK, this is gonna be like the fun part of my career, doing like smaller, interesting parts.’ And then when Kevin hired me, he’s like, ‘I don’t need a character actor. I need a leading man.'”

Related Horizon: An American Saga Release Schedule, Explained: How Many Movies Will There Be? Kevin Costner’s epic film series Horizon: An American Saga will release two films in the summer of 2024, with more films to come.

Chapter 1 of Horizon Is a ‘Piece of This Greater Puzzle’

Fuhrman, who we last interviewed when her film Sheroes was released, is one of few Horizon stars who’s publicly slated to appear in Chapter 2 and 3. She was quick to comment on the unique experience of promoting just one installment of Costner’s vision while the rest is still in the works.

“We’re talking about a very small piece of this greater puzzle. We all know where this story goes, and we’re not allowed to share it,” she told us. “Audiences are going to follow with us over the next, you know, year or two years. And we’re just fortunate enough that we’ve gotten to be here for the last couple of years playing with this material and working on it with Kevin, but he’s been working on this since the ’80s. So it does feel for me like, ‘Oh wow, finally we get to talk about it!’ But I’m sure for Kevin, it’s like 20 times that.”

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One of the many highlights of Chapter 1 is the storyline involving the wagon train led by Wilson’s cowboy character, with Fuhrman and Hunt also along for the ride as they seek a better life in the Old West. “Our filming cast and crew really felt like a family in our wagon train,” said Fuhrman. “We’re like a traveling Shakespeare Company. I really did feel at times, like, Luke referred to it as a sports team. I mean, we would call ‘action’ on the scene, and we all had different places to be in, jobs to do, and there was no stopping the train.”

On top of Horizon, Wilson is keeping busy on the small screen as well, with a highly anticipated new series called No Good Deed that features other big names like Ray Romano, Denis Leary and Lisa Kudrow. “It was really fun to work on this. Liz Feldman had created the show, and she’d done Dead to Me,” Wilson told us. “It’ll be coming out on Netflix. It’s kind of a dark comedy that I hope you guys will watch… It should be a really funny show. It’s kind of a different kind of humor. I think people really get a kick out of it.”

In the meantime, from Warner Bros. Pictures, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 will be playing in theaters June 28, 2024.