For Kevin Costner, watching his son, Hayes, grow up served as a constant reminder to get moving on his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga. On Tuesday, the famed 69-year-old actor-director exclusively spoke to ET’s Cassie DiLaura during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he shared that he named his now-15-year-old son after the protagonist he portrays in his decades-in-the-making Western epic. Fast-forward to now, and Hayes will make his acting debut in the very film Costner first started working on in the late 1980s.
“I named him after the character I play in this. My character’s name is Hayes Ellison,” Costner told ET. “And I named Hayes that character. So I was watching him grow up and I was thinking, ‘Man, I better get with it and make this movie.'”
Horizon has been more than three decades in the making. It has taken so long to develop largely because Costner was highly sought after in Hollywood. But he never lost sight of his goal to bring Horizon to the big screen, and what ensued was a path of hope fueled by his relentless determination. Costner said it took him and co-writer Jon Baird six years to write the scripts to his four-film saga, a project that was originally under the Disney banner before it ultimately wound up at Warner Bros. And as the months turned into years and the years turned into decades, Costner’s sheer doggedness and pursuit remained fiery as ever.
The cherry on top all these years later? Costner’s son joining him on this project.
“I captured him and I brought him on, and he’s very good in this small part that he’s done,” Costner gushed. “If you see it, I think he has an impact on the movie.”
And for the record, Hayes — whom Costner shares with ex Christine Baumgartner, along with son Cayden, 16 and daughter, Grace, 13 — did not have to audition for the role.
“No, listen. I don’t give great parts away. I understand that there’s young actors out [there] that would kill for these parts,” Costner explained. “And so mine have to respect the profession. But in certain instances, this was something I thought he could handle. I wanted him close and so I did it. So we’re locked together in a film forever. Actually, I’m not in any scenes with him, but I directed him when he was little and now he’s big.”
Horizon: An American Saga is set in the pre-and-post-American Civil War period, depicting the expansion of the American West. All in all, Costner’s ambitious project will total four films. The official description for the film says Horizon “explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won — and lost — through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.”
Costner acted in, directed, and produced the two-part theatrical event. In an unprecedented move, Chapter One will hit theaters June 28, followed by Chapter Two on Aug. 16. The film stars Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt and Jamie Campbell Bower.
Horizon became such an ambitious project, Costner told Deadline in May 2023 that he mortgaged “10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara” in an effort to get his passion project off the ground. So is Costner nervous ahead of Chapter One’s release?
“No,” Costner told ET. “I feel really good about what this movie, what it does to me. It was the kind of movie that I hoped someone would make for me. That’s what I like to see.”
The first trailer for Horizon: An American Saga debuted Monday, and footage from the forthcoming Western epic offers glimpses of the Dances With Wolves director’s son Hayes Costner, 15, making his screen acting debut. In the trailer, Hayes’ character defies the wishes of his mother (Sienna Miller) as their home is under attack. After his mother urges him to join her in the basement to hide from the invaders, the young man says, “It’s all right. I’m gonna be with dad,” shutting the cellar door as a fire blazes behind him.
The elder Costner, 69, clarified that he and his son play the same lead character in the film. “Hayes plays the namesake character that I actually play in the movie. He’s 13 years old and the screenplay’s been around longer than that,” the actor and filmmaker told PEOPLE. He also joked that he cast his son in order to spend some quality time with him. “I kind of did it on purpose, so he could be hanging out with me,” he said. “I’m like any other parent, I’m trying to figure out, like, ‘This is really neat. You should come be with me.'”
Other actors who appear in the trailer include Luke Wilson, Danny Huston, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Rooker, and Sam Worthington, star of Avatar (sometimes dubbed “Dances With Wolves in space”). Some of the trailer’s most memorable imagery shows women breathing through the barrel of a shotgun while hiding underground, horse-drawn wagons bolting across the prairie, and Costner blasting a tent full of enemies with a revolver.
Horizon: An American Saga marks Costner’s fourth directorial project, after 1990’s Dances With Wolves, 1997’s The Postman, and 2003’s Open Range. The film is also Costner’s first project since departing the hit series Yellowstone after five seasons, though the final six episodes of the series will air in November, after Horizon’s debut.
Costner developed the project as four feature-length chapters telling a continuous story. The first chapter hits theaters June 28, while the second will release Aug. 16.
The arrival of Horizon: American Saga is better late than never for Kevin Costner. Ahead of the release of his two-part Western film, the actor revealed in a conversation with Entertainment Tonight that not only has the project been in the works for years, but his character, Hayes, was the inspiration for his now-15-year-old son’s name — and fittingly, the real-life Hayes makes his acting debut in Horizon alongside his dad.
“I named him after the character I play in this. My character’s named Hayes Ellison,” Costner, 69, told ET on Tuesday, April 9, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. “And I named Hayes [after] that character.”
“So I was watching him grow up and I was thinking, ‘Man, I better get with it and make this movie!’ ” the two-time Academy Award winner added. “So I captured him and I brought him on, and he’s very good in this small part that he’s done. If you see it, I think he has an impact on the movie.”
In the trailer, which dropped Feb. 26, Hayes stars in a tense scene that shows him helping a woman (played by Sienna Miller) and young girl, who are presumably his mother and sister, into a shelter through an opening in the floor as their home is attacked.
“It’s all right — I’m gonna be with Dad,” he tells Miller’s horrified character, before closing the door on their hiding spot.
Costner — who directed, co-wrote and stars in Horizon — told ET on Tuesday that Hayes didn’t have to audition for his role, explaining, “I wanted him close and so I did it. So we’re locked together in a film forever. Actually, I’m not in any scenes with him, but I directed him when he was little and now he’s big.”
But that doesn’t mean the father of seven normally “give(s) great parts away.”
“I understand that there’s young actors out [there] that would kill for these parts,” Costner said. “And so mine have to respect the profession. But in certain instances, this was something I thought [Hayes] could handle.”
Also on Tuesday, Costner appeared onstage for distributor Warner Bros.’ presentation of upcoming titles at CinemaCon to promote Horizon, which is set during the American Civil War.
“I think about the promise of America,” he said from the stage. “There was a promise out here that if you could go, if you were tough enough, if you were mean enough, if you were resourceful enough, if you were lucky enough, you could take what you wanted in America.”
In reference to Native Americans, Costner added, “That promise meant that we stepped on a whole group of people that had been here for thousands of years.”
Horizon includes that struggle as well, he said: “If you could come west, if you could survive it, you could make a home and at the expense of a lot of things. So to me, that’s drama.”
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 is in theaters June 28, followed by Chapter 2 on Aug. 16.
Source: ET, PEOPLE, Deadline, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter
