Costner Defies Narrative, Defends Early Americans When Pressed About New Film's Natives vs 'White' Settlers
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
After announcing his new four-film epic Western series, actor Kevin Costner was pressed about the films’ depiction of native versus “white settler” conflicts.
The series, “Horizon: An American Saga,” is set to have an unprecedented release schedule. The first two films will hit theaters in June and August of this year, only two months apart.
What’s not quite as unprecedented is that the film’s story pits Native Americans against early American settlers of European descent, a point which The Hollywood Reporter chose to press during an interview with the actor.
Costner’s response was not what one might expect from a Hollywood actor.
After making clear he condemns the crimes that were committed against Native Americans in those early years, Costner made a point to say “…but I want to project what really happened.”
He then went on to defend the dignity of early American settlers.
“There was a great injustice occurred in the West, but it doesn’t minimize the courage it took for my ancestors to cut loose and go there. And I recognized the resourcefulness it took and the bravery it took to leave and make this march across this country,” Costner said.
“It’s just a movie that shows the [clash] of cultures. It’s our history. I love it. I can enjoy watching a movie like this if I feel like I can see myself in it, and I tried really hard for that to happen.”
The “Yellowstone” actor’s defense didn’t stop there.
Costner even went as far as saying that current-day American critics shouldn’t judge Americans who lived in the 1800s.
After all, most of those critics know nothing of the historical circumstances at play at that time.
Being the Western fanatic that he is, Costner then went on to explain exactly what those historical circumstances were.
“We kind of apply our own sensibilities where we live a life today where, when we’re offended, we have to get a lawyer or agent or publicity person — somebody to arbitrate our problems,” Costner said. “Back then, you had to arbitrate your problems by yourself — which was terribly dramatic, especially if you’re dealing with a sociopath.”
“You have to understand we were coming out of that terrible Civil War. And if anyone believes in post-traumatic stress, there was only about 30 million people in America at the time and that war went on for four years. We lost 56,000 men in Vietnam. We lost 600,000 in the Civil War. People came West, sometimes with a lot of hope, bringing their family, and others came West because they were damaged and were running away from something.”
Because of all that trauma and pain, Costner explained, people of different stripes were put at odds with one another.
“The stranger was a boogyman. If you were a stranger 120 years ago, people were afraid of you because they didn’t know if that was really your name or what you’d really done,” he said.
“Like the trailer says, if you were strong enough, if they were mean enough, they could hold on to something, they could take it away from you. And when you can create that architecture in a movie where anything is possible, some people get lucky and some people are not lucky. And when they tried to look at their wife who asked, ‘Why are we going out here?’ The man simply said, ‘We’re going to be luckier than that.’
“And that’s how this country got settled and the American native Indians were crushed under this movement. They didn’t stand a chance.”
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