Kevin Costner Highlights Importance of Strong Female Characters in His Films

Actor, producer, and director Kevin Costner recently emphasized his commitment to featuring strong female characters in his films, despite primarily making movies for male audiences, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Costner, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, joined his ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ co-stars Sam Worthington, Abbey Lee, and Luke Wilson for a live episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. During the discussion, he underscored the significance of developing fully-realized female characters, particularly in the Western genre where such portrayals are less common.

“When you start writing you go, ‘Where’s the woman?’ It just drove the story in every plot line,” Costner said. “It just seemed to me to be so easy. I mean, I just hardly couldn’t conceive of a scene that didn’t involve women or a young girl raised by a strong woman.”

Costner, while expressing his appreciation for Sienna Miller’s performance in ‘Horizon: An American Saga,’ noted that she brought his characters to life with her “luminous” acting. “I make movies for men,” he added. “But I won’t make a movie unless I have strong women characters, and that’s how I’ve conducted my career. And I think that’s why I have a good following. I thank you women for dragging your men here. It was a Western, after all.”

‘Horizon: An American Saga’ is the first part of a four-film series, with the second installment set for release in August. Parts three and four are currently in development. The drama, led by Costner, spans 15 years of pre- and post-Civil War growth, marking his return to directing after more than two decades. His previous directorial efforts include the Oscar-winning ‘Dances With Wolves’ (1991), ‘The Postman’ (1997), and ‘Open Range’ (2003). Recently, he has focused on acting and producing, with his latest project being ‘Yellowstone,’ which he left on June 20.

Reflecting on his return to directing with ‘Horizon,’ Costner shared, “Sometimes you wonder if you can still ride the bike, but what I knew was I believed so much in my story that I really was the one that needed to direct this. I didn’t want to come away not bringing everything home that I thought the movie had a chance to deliver.”

He continued, “There are people that are more talented than myself. I’m sure that [there are] directors [who] really understand the camera, but I believe in the story, and I believe so much in it that for me I think that comes shining through my movies.”

‘Horizon: An American Saga’ is now in theatres, as per The Hollywood Reporter.