Kevin Costner Reveals He Took Out Mortgage to Fund 'Horizon' Movie Series: 'I Did It Without a Thought'
Kevin Costner is working on an upcoming four-part movie series titled 'Horizon: An American Saga'
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Kevin Costner has quite a bit riding on his upcoming movie series Horizon: An American Saga.
While speaking with Deadline, Costner, 68, revealed that he took out a mortgage on his 10-acre home in Santa Barbara, Calif., in order to pay for some of the project's budget himself.
“I’ve mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house,” the Yellowstone star said. “But I did it without a thought. It has thrown my accountant into a f------ conniption fit. But it’s my life, and I believe in the idea and the story.”
Costner said in the interview that he has been working on Horizon — a Western series that will span four movies — in various forms since 1988, though he has long had trouble finding "anybody to make it."
"At the end of the day, I’m a storyteller, and I went ahead and put my own money into it," he told the outlet, as he explained why he chose to risk his own property on the project. "I’m not a very good businessman, so, scratch your head, if you will. I don’t know why, but I have not let go of this one."
"I’ve pushed it into the middle of the table three times in my career and didn’t blink," he said.
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Costner partially funded three of his past projects and reaped the benefits of those risks with movies like 19990's Dances with Wolves, which won seven Oscars, including Best Director for Costner.
"I make these movies for people, not for myself. I author every moment in them as if I’m protecting their experience, protecting the time that they take to come to the theater," he told Deadline, when asked how he remembers winning at the 63rd Academy Awards.
"That’s how I look at it. But I’ll tell you what. I’m never gonna do this again," he added, laughing as he promised not to keep funding his own projects after Horizon. "I’m never putting my f------ money in another movie after these four."
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Dances with Wolves has remained a reference point for Costner as he begins promoting Horizon. The actor and director wrote on Instagram on May 17 that he has not "felt this way about a movie since we were making Dances With Wolves" while teasing the series.
"Can't wait to share it with all of you," he wrote at the time.
Costner, whose wife Christine Baumgartner filed for divorce in May after 18 years of marriage, previously told PEOPLE in November that Horizon is "incredibly meaningful to me."
"It's really been the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's exactly what I want to do," he said at the time.
Though the first movie in Horizon: An American Saga does not yet have a release date, Costner told Deadline that he wants to premiere the first film at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, which kicks off August 30.
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