SEATTLE — Whether you call it a passion project or a dream-come-true, “Horizon: An American Saga” is the realization of an idea Kevin Costner first had 36 years ago.
The Oscar-winning actor and director also co-wrote the Western epic. The premise is exploration based on a lie: pioneers are lured west to live in a town that doesn't exist.
"They don't know, and just crossing a river could kill you,” Costner said. "I deal with things that aren't normally in a western."
There are three major storylines, and a robust cast of characters.
Abbey Lee plays a prostitute and said she related to her character’s resilience – especially as a woman in the pre-Civil War era.
"I think I would have had the fight in me. I can be pretty uncomfortable and keep moving,” she said. “Those outfits are brutal. It's not just the corset, it's the skirt upon skirt upon skirt, tied with rope. I mean, you have rope burn at the end of the day after wearing them."
The film showcases daily hardships and violent clashes as settlers moved west to colonize land already occupied by Native nations.
"To go on any kind of frontier journey like this, into the unknown, you have to have a certain positivity about it. You can't go into it with fear,” said Sam Worthington.
Sienna Miller added, "It's an unforgiving landscape, it's the Rocky Mountains if you're coming from the East Coast - I don't know how people got there.”
Luke Wilson plays the leader of a wagon train - a job he spent years unwittingly training for.
"I'm from Texas so flying back and forth from Texas to L.A. I'll always look out the window and think, 'Okay, if I got put down right there could I make it out?'" he said.
British actress Emma Hunt spent time on the range prior to filming.
"I had to learn - we all had to learn - how to drive a wagon,” she said. “I loved my mules, Laverne and Shirley. They have one speed, and it's slow.”
At times, “Horizon” feels like more of a mini-series than a movie. But the cast hopes they've created characters worth following to the end.
"When you make a movie like this, you're hoping you're making something that will live on forever and I hope that audiences really love this movie as much as we have loved working on it,” said Isabelle Fuhrman. "We just have to share it with the world now."
“Horizon: An American Saga” is rated R and opens in theaters June 28.