The Press at the 81st Venice Film Festival | Kevin Costner’s Odyssey

(Venice) After presenting the first part of his ambitious western fresco Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 Out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Kevin Costner is doing it again at the Venice Film Festival by offering the first and second chapters of the tetralogy, screened out of competition.

Since 1988, Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves) dreamed of bringing his vision of the conquest of the West to the screen. For the first of four chapters ofHorizon: An American Sagathe filmmaker had to pay 38 million out of his own pocket. Released in June, the first part was somewhat mistreated by critics, in addition to being shunned by the public. Scheduled for August, the release of the second part has been postponed to an unknown date.

“The odyssey of the film is as long as the one the film tells… It’s a bad joke,” Kevin Costner said at a press conference. “You find stories in books or in your imagination; that ofHorizon comes from my imagination. When I come to Venice, I see a miracle and I think of all those Europeans, like my ancestors, who left their country to conquer a large territory occupied by the indigenous people for 5,000 years. The film is not a message that I send to my people, but a reminder. The West was not Disneyland.

After the first part, boring and soap opera-like, the second chapter proves to be more captivating. Still carried by the same epic breath, benefiting from the photography of J. Michael Muro, which magnifies the hostile territory of the West, the saga has lost nothing in ambition, but has gained in emotion. Kevin Costner also praised the music of John Debney “which accompanies this territory that still exists”.

“It takes a big village to make a great movie and a great leader to direct it,” the composer said. “I was very inspired by the great cast, especially Luke Wilson, who sang songs with me that inspired melodies that Kevin agreed to let me add to the film. Thank you Kevin for allowing me to compose the score for a Western, which is every composer’s dream.”

“I would say it’s the same for actors,” added Alejandro Edda, who plays Neron Chavez, a member of the infantry who comes to the aid of the victims of the Apaches. “I never thought I would be able to realize this dream of playing in a Western. Thank you Mr. Costner for giving us this great gift.”

In addition to Kevin Costner’s character, Hayes Ellison, wanted by the dangerous Sykes brothers (Jon Beavers and Charles Harford) for having killed their younger brother in the first part, we find Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter Elizabeth (Georgia MacPhail), who survived the attack by the Apaches that killed the father and son Kittredge.

“In the third and fourth installments, Elizabeth will be 10 years older; you’ll see this strong girl raised by a strong woman become a strong woman herself,” Kevin Costner said. “I desperately wanted to tell this story from a woman’s perspective because I think that’s the best way to do it.”

Less present in this second chapter, Marigold (Abbey Lee), a young prostitute, will have to hide in order to save her skin. To ensure that she and her daughter have a roof over her head, Frances will want to create an alliance with the Chinese pioneers by making friends with Yuan (Phoebe Ho). On the side of the convoy led by Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson), life is not easy. While Diamond Kittredge (Isabelle Fuhrman), Elizabeth’s cousin, will want to free herself from her father (Will Patton), the unfortunate Juliette Chesney (Ella Hunt) will have to fight against someone stronger than her.

“When I read the scripts for the first two games, it felt like I was reading a historical novel. I learned a lot about the West and its expansion,” said Luke Wilson.

“I wasn’t even born when the project was born in Kevin’s mind, but my father is a big fan of Westerns, so it was an honor to be part of the project,” added Isabelle Fuhrman. “You get the impression that the time was simpler than today, whereas you understand from watching the film how difficult it was, even for the little things of everyday life.”

Don’t show everything

With authenticity being his watchword, Kevin Costner, who rejects westerns that exploit the violence of the period or are limited to gunshots, preferred to approach the harshness of the period without showing everything.

“Violence is vulgar, ugly, sudden, without structure,” he maintained. “I don’t show violence, I don’t show the death of my son or the repeated rapes. I prefer to emphasize the sadness, the resilience, the courage of the characters and the repercussions of violence in their lives. At the time, it was every man for himself; people lived in horror. I’m not saying that what I show happened like that at the time, but it’s my choice not to show violence, but its consequences.”

Admitting that he postponed the release of the second part in reaction to the poor reception of the first, the filmmaker, who had initially intended to release them six months apart rather than six weeks, says he is happy to be able to present half of his tetralogy at the Venice Film Festival. While the theatrical release date is not yet known for Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, the future seems even more uncertain going forward.

“Making a second part is even more difficult than the first. And it will be even more difficult with the third part, which will be more devastating since we know the characters even better, to whom life will not be kind. I don’t know how I’m going to do it Chapter 3but I know I’m going to do it,” concluded Kevin Costner, moved to tears as he heard the warm applause erupting in the conference room.