In a recent revelation, Kevin Costner, the acclaimed star of Yellowstone, confirmed that he had invested a staggering $38 million of his personal wealth into the production of his two-part western, Horizon: An American Saga.
The film, which had a budget of $100 million, was largely self-funded by Costner and his wife, Christine Baumgartner.
"That's the truth. That's the real number," the 69-year-old actor affirmed in his GQ cover story published on Monday. He further elaborated on the financial risk he took, likening it to an independent movie venture. "My wife and I knew we were going to finance it. We just mortgaged a property, a beachfront property in Santa Barbara. Ten acres. I said, 'It's a good deal.' And she said, 'Yeah, one more and we're out of business.'"
Costner, who recently finalized his contentious divorce from Baumgartner after 18 years of marriage, insisted that the split was not related to his financial gamble. Drawing a parallel to Ahab, the obsessed whaler from Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, Costner stated, "The white whale obsessed him so much that he would take everybody down with them. I take nobody down with me. I take the risk myself."
The two-time Oscar winner, who is currently dating Grammy-nominated singer Jewel, has agreed to pay Christine $63,000 per month in child support for their three children: Cayden Wyatt, 16; Hayes Logan, 15; and Grace Avery, 13.
In addition to his personal battles, Costner also faced professional challenges, including disputes with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan over filming schedules and delays caused by WGA/SAG strikes. Despite these hurdles, Costner is determined to expand Horizon into two more films, even though he has not yet secured the necessary financing.
"There's a lot that has happened. I'm right now looking at myself in the dark and going, Are you going to f***ing stand up and finish? Get up. I'm the audience. Get up, Kevin. Get the f*** up and deal with this and find the joy every day of seeing your kids play while you're here and then work your a** off to get this thing finished," the actor confessed.
Costner, who not only stars in but also produced, wrote, and directed Horizon, is proud of his work on the film, which is set before and after the Civil War. The film is scheduled to hit US theaters on June 28 and August 16, marking a first in film history.
Despite the potential risk of both films failing at the box office, Costner remains undeterred. "I'm making Three right now. I was just out there scouting. I don't want to be frozen in my life. Besides that, September is not going to define my life, so f*** off. What will define my life will be: Will people visit this movie 10 years from now? And I'm going to own that film. And so whatever commerce comes from that film, 10 years and 20 years from now, 30 years from now, I own that and so do my heirs," he declared.
Costner's commitment to his craft, despite the potential for failure, is a message he wants to pass on to his children. "That I do what I believe in," he said, "regardless if its successful like 1990's Dances with Wolves or box office poison like 1995's Waterworld and 1997's The Postman."
Despite the challenges, Costner remains committed to his vision. "I'm as far out on a limb right now as I've ever been. There's, f***ing, some animal... There's eight down there that want me. And I'm going to just be a ball of fur if I hit the ground. So I'm up here. I'm as far out as I've ever been."
Horizon, which features a star-studded cast including Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, and Jamie Campbell Bower, received a seven-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. However, the film currently holds a disappointing 20% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Costner is also set to conclude his Golden Globe-winning role as John Dutton III in the second part of the fifth and final season of Yellowstone, which resumes on November 10 on the Paramount Network. His character, a Montana rancher, is rumored to be killed off due to a deadly recurrence of colon cancer, which afflicted him during the first season.
"Well, Taylor and I know what the conditions are for coming back, and I'll just keep that between ourselves," Costner said of his future on the show. "And if we can't get to it, it's because at the end of the day, it's unreasonable for them or something. I love that character. I love that world. I am a person that is very script oriented. And if the scripts aren't there now, I need to know what I am. I want to make sure that the character lines up with what's important to me too. And that's pretty simple. That's just between, again, Taylor and myself. Can we ever get there? I don't know."
Costner concluded, "What am I supposed to do? I'm just not a dog that waits in a driveway not knowing when the person's going to come home. I want to know. And I also understood that their universe was really big, so I just decided not to sit in the driveway, but to be busy myself and be available when I could. It didn't end up happening."
Login