Kevin Costner Revealed the Real Cost of Horizon: That Movie Cost Him A LOT
We knew Costner poured a bizarre amount of his own money into his dream project, but we underestimated just how much Horizon cost him.
Kevin Costner ’s Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 is officially out. The movie he’d risked so much for, his dream project that the actor was cooking for many years, trying to get the funding for it… In the end, Costner took a massive gamble and poured tens of millions of his own money into making Horizon — but we severely underestimated just how much money it was.
Kevin Costner Spent a Fortune on Horizon
There are two major ways in which Costner took immense risks to make Horizon come true. The first one is, of course, his career: the Western star lost his lead part in Taylor Sheridan ’s Yellowstone to work on Horizon and likely rejected some other offers to make time for his own project. But that’s not even the main thing.
For many years, Costner was failing to find production companies willing to fund Horizon. In the end, the star actor mortgaged his $50M oceanside property to get the required money — and until recently, we believed that out of the first movie’s $90M budget, “only” $20M was Costner’s personal investment. But we were wrong.
“I know they say I’ve got $20 million of my own money in this movie… It’s not true. I’ve got now about $38 million in the film. That’s the truth. That’s the real number,” the actor revealed to GQ.
Was Horizon Worth All the Hassle?
With Horizon: Chapter 1, we were mostly curious to see whether the immense risk Kevin Costner had taken paid off. So far, we’re under the impression that it did — at least, critically. When the Western star presented his movie at the Cannes Festival, he received a 10-minute-long standing ovation from the audience.
On IMDb, Horizon currently has a more-than-solid 8.2/10 score, so that’s a good one. Things start to get questionable when we pop over to Rotten Tomatoes, though: there, the movie is sitting at an underwhelming 27% Critic Score at the moment. But that seems to be a temporary exception: if the Cannes loved the movie so much, viewers might share the sentiment when Horizon: Chapter 1 finally hits the theaters.
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 premieres on June 28, 2024.
Source: GQ