As he readies up for viewers to react to his latest film ‘The Horizon‘, Kevin Costner believes that people will see the finer points of native American depiction in his movie without him having to spell it all out.
The film is the first of a series that spans 12 years in the American West and presents a variety of stories. However, fans and critics have voiced their worries over the western genre’s long history of misrepresenting indigenous people, frequently casting them as the anonymous antagonists — who assault defenseless white settlers and ruin the lives of the movie’s protagonists. Clearing the air, here’s what Kevin Costner has to say about his depiction of native Americans in his film.
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Kevin Costner Talks About Depicting Native Americans In His Film
While many viewers were concerned about Kevin Costner’s depiction of Native Americans in his upcoming film ‘Horizon‘, the filmmaker has a completely different viewpoint on how he has worked in it. Costner clarified that he hasn’t worried much about following a more stereotypical depiction of Native Americans in the film.
“I’m just so tired of everybody trying to be so delicate about things,” he said during a recent interview. “[The Native Americans] were pissed. I don’t feel like I have to [hold someone’s hand]. ‘Oh my God, here we go again. Indians are the bad guys.’ Of course, they’re not the bad guys. But if you’re going to be limited, if people aren’t willing to watch how something unfolds, I don’t know what to say,” the ‘Yellowstone‘ star added.
He further talked about how their angry and somewhat violent nature central to telling their story as he added, “I’m not interested in spoon-feeding people. The reality is it was one tent too many, and the [Apache] went down there, and they tried to wipe the [settlers] out. Their anger is they’re not able to hunt. They have to go and interact with tribes when they had long ago settled those issues.”
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What Is ‘Horizon’ About?
The film, which lasts over three hours, centers on a number of people who are drawn to the colony known as Horizon by a flyer that offers land to those who are courageous enough to travel there. Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter Elizabeth Kittredge (Georgia MacPhail) are sheltered by the Army at Fort Gallant following the death of their husband on their westward voyage.
The two ladies grow to be respected members of the town, serving as a constant reminder to the troops of the wives and daughters they had to leave behind. Costner portrays the solitary Hayes Ellison, who is pulled to Horizon in an attempt to start again. He is accompanied by Marigold (Abbey Lee), a former prostitute who lived in Watts Parrish, a mining town.
A number of Native American cultural advisers worked on the film, and the actors were trained in the White Mountain Apache dialect for their parts.
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