The One Thing Kevin Costner Risked His Fortune, Family Home, and Marriage For

Actor, producer, and writer Kevin Costner has a great passion for what he does. He devotes himself wholeheartedly to every project, working tirelessly to make sure every last detail is perfect. Whether it’s in front of the camera or behind the scenes, the actor gives it his best because of his enthusiasm. However, the issue remains: to what extent will he go in order to realize his imaginative vision?

The four-part Western film series “Horizon: American Saga” has seen Kevin Costner devote all of his attention to it lately. The American West’s westward growth in the years preceding the Civil War is explored in this series.

The story examines the conflicts that arose between the settlers who were keen to make a name for themselves and the Native American tribes, whose territories were being encroached upon. This portrays a big portion of American history.

Costner found it difficult to find financiers for the project, though. He acknowledged that others lacked faith in his audacious plan, which is why he had to personally fund the production to make sure it was realized.

In a May 2023 interview, the celebrated actor gave the background on how he came up with the movie idea. “In 1988, I ordered this novella. Two-handed movie, one screen. A traditional Western featuring a start, middle, and finish. “I was unable to convince anyone to attend,” he revealed.

Following the popularity of “Open Range,” Disney presented a chance. Nevertheless, despite the studio’s financial advantages from the last picture, a $5 million discrepancy in budget talks prevented the production from proceeding.

Unfazed, Costner returned to the concept eight years later, started collaborating with a writer, and ultimately turned it into four screenplays. Reverse-engineering the idea to 1988, he thought the narrative had a lot of strength.

The actor realized that executing the job would be extremely difficult and that a drastic choice would have to be made. He therefore made a significant sacrifice, much to his accountant’s dismay.

“I was going to build my last house on 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara, but I mortgaged that land.” However, I didn’t give it much thought. My accountant is having fits of rage over it. However, it’s my life,” Costner disclosed.

The “Yellowstone” alum went on to emphasize his unwavering belief in the project and how his resolve to see it through to completion never wavered. He had the ideal reaction when asked if he trusted the project enough to take a risk with his property.

After all, I’m a storyteller at heart, therefore I invested my own funds on it. In addition, I haven’t let go of this one, for whatever reason,” Costner remarked. In addition, he disclosed that he had “pushed it into the middle of the table” three times in his professional life. That makes four times that he has done this.

The actor revealed that he is on track to invest a total of $100 million in his Western series after spending $98 million on the first three installments.

One day after “Horizon” debuted, in May 2024, the Oscar-winning actor discussed his choice to stake his personal fortune on his vision during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival.

“I’ve made several purchases […] Not that I need four houses. To make my movies, I’ll take a chance on those residences. The father of seven spoke of his sacrifices to make the movie, saying, “I want to leave them to my children, but my children will have to live their own lives.”

Costner expressed his perplexity about people who could not see the movie he wanted to make. He is still certain that his film is not better than any other. “I made it for people,” the seasoned Hollywood actor declared.

The title character in this project is called Hayes, a name that Costner eventually gave to his son, who plays a prominent role in the movie. He clarified that the name played a crucial role in his quest to bring the motion picture to reality.

His connection to the name remained strong despite the difficulties he had since 1988 in obtaining funding for the project. It was also adopted as his son’s name years later.

For “Horizon,” Costner has demonstrated his level of dedication by investing his own money and forgoing all of his fees. For him, the project has evolved into an obsession rather than just a job.

Although Costner acknowledged that some people would see what he’s done as a gamble, he made it clear that’s not how he sees it. “I don’t gamble. I take a chance on my love of stories. In a way, I’m betting on individuals,” he remarked.

Although he acknowledged that he couldn’t make people go to the theater, he nevertheless wanted to provide them the greatest experience he could. That’s his pillar of support.

Even though Costner is confident in the caliber of his work, he frequently has trouble getting funding for the movies he envisions. The movies he wants to make, like “Dances With Wolves,” “Bull Durham,” “Field of Dreams,” and “Open Range,” are more difficult for him to make come to pass.

Costner is renowned for his unwavering dedication to causes that he supports, even when they take several years to complete. With the third “Horizon” series film, he declared that he hoped to attend Cannes once more.

For part three, he has already finished three days of filming, and he is actively looking for further funds. He made it a point to appeal for financial contributions from potential investors at Cannes, highlighting the project’s need for support to proceed.

At its global premiere at Cannes, the three-hour film received an 11-minute, 40-second standing ovation. Costner made a suggestion that Native Americans will play a significant role in the plot of “Horizon” Chapter 4.

Warner Bros. released “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter 1 in theaters in June 2024. However, the release date of the second chapter was rescheduled from August to September 2024 due to the first installment’s poor box office performance. Additionally, Costner revealed that “Chapter 3” production started in May 2024.

In addition to jeopardizing his fortune and the family home for his beloved film project, Costner has had to deal with the difficulties of a broken marriage. After 18 years of marriage, his now-ex-wife Christine Baumgartner filed for divorce in May 2023. Their date of separation is April 11, 2023, and she stated that they had irreconcilable disagreements.
It was disclosed by an insider that Baumgartner’s divorce file did not completely catch Costner off guard. The insider claimed that while the filing was a “unpleasant surprise,” he wasn’t totally taken aback by it.

Even though Costner knew she was unhappy, the insider said he didn’t desire a divorce. Baumgartner, for her part, had hoped for more time with her family at their Santa Barbara home, but it was made difficult by Costner’s frequent absences during filming.

The insider said that she had found it difficult to be without her spouse. She was also not happy about his continued fixation on the “Horizon” project, which had taken up all of his time since the previous year.

Following a court struggle, the divorced couple remarried in September 2004 and welcomed three children: daughter Grace, sons Cayden and Hayes, and son.

The verdict ruled in Costner’s favor. The judge explained the reasoning behind his decision after both exes took the stand, as they discussed co-parenting their children and the next steps in their separation.

The court made its ruling on child support public as well. Baumgartner had asked for $161,592, but Costner was ordered to pay her $63,209 a month instead.

According to Judge Thomas P. Anderle, “both sides made strong closing arguments.” Anderle said that the “reasonable needs of the children are fully met by this child support order” in response to the decision. He stated that any sum “above $63,209 monthly” would be considered “disguised spousal support.”

Significant obstacles have to be overcome by Costner before “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” filming could begin in 2022. Following the death of both of his parents in 2021, he ran into issues with the filming schedule for “Yellowstone.”

These disagreements intensified into a reported battle with the production firms and co-creator of the program, Taylor Sheridan, over a contract. In spite of all of these obstacles, Costner finished not one, but two “Horizon” movies during this turbulent time.

When Costner thought back on his struggles, he recalled having an epiphany during which he visualized himself in a pitch-black theater and exhorted himself to get up and overcome the obstacles. He forced himself to work hard to finish his project while finding happiness in watching his children play.

He owns other properties as well, even though he took out a mortgage on his seaside plot to make his movie. Another in Aspen belongs to Costner. He claimed that his ex-wife used to make jokes about his decision to mortgage his beachfront home, saying, “One more and we’re out of business.”

When asked about this comment, Costner clarified that his ex-wife hadn’t actually said it; instead, it was his way of being self-deprecating, using the line as a lighthearted way to acknowledge that his actions might seem a bit crazy.

In response to a question concerning the relationship between his divorce and his ex-spouse’s discontent with the film production, Costner said, “No, they’re not related.”

Costner had to deal with unsatisfactory outcomes after making large project investments and incurring large financial risks to obtain funding. On the weekend of its premiere, the first movie brought in slightly more than $11 million at the domestic box office.

When the film was released in theaters, it made just over $34 million globally by August 2024. “Chapter 1” brought in over $5.2 million overseas, while its domestic revenues came to a total of $29 million.

According to reports, Kevin Costner acknowledged that he used $38 million of his personal funds to finance the first feature in the intended four-part film series. I hope the next installments will pay off his hard work and bring in more money.