Kevin Costner. “I’m afraid of getting old because I want to see my children grow up.”

In the 1990s, there was no stopping Kevin Costner. Popcorn Movie Star (Robin Hood, bodyguard) and a favorite of female audiences, alongside Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis, he also makes his name in the memory of moviegoers by collaborating with Oliver Stone (JFK:) or Clint Eastwood (A perfect world). Another feat back Dances with Wolves, his first film behind the camera (1990), he won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. He is the king of Hollywood at that time, who succeeds in everything. But time and a few bad choices take their toll. The second roles take precedence over the first, the fifties are relegated to the substitutes’ bench.

But the Hollywood dream factory, the kingdom of all possibilities, often offers surprising returns. In 2018, when Kevin Costner took over the series Yellowstone For Paramount+, his instincts do not deceive him. The public who knew him as a cowboy Silverado, Wyatt Earp Or Open the range nice to see him wearing the stetson again. The success was such that the star managed to realize the most ambitious directorial project of his career. America’s birthday saga in four feature films. Horizon, the first part of which is in theaters (chapter 2 will be released in the fall), is an epic and romantic western that tells the intimate, political and human problems of the conquest of the West from the perspective of colonists, soldiers, Native Americans, but also women. This epic, presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, is especially close to the actor-director’s heart. he dreamed about it for thirty-five years.

Madame Figaro. – Your career is highlighted by westerns. What does this genre and the great outdoors mean to you?

Kevin Costner. – These are fertile and boundless spaces for imagination. Mountains and rivers have preceded us and will undoubtedly outlive us. They have lived through all eras and are full of stories that have always fueled our imaginations. Narrating the birth of a nation as I do Horizonmeans to tell the story of an age of opportunity; The idea of ​​America was then an experiment, work in progress which developed when men discovered virgin and sometimes hostile regions.

The conquest of the West also means violence…
In America, as in Europe, borders are built on blood and fear of others. In our country, colonizers have destroyed people and cultures that have lived there for 15,000 years to conquer territories. Cohabitation wasn’t even an option, and when I look at current history, I sometimes fear our inability to improve. But maybe one day we’ll learn from our mistakes, maybe we’ll agree to take a look for ourselves? As long as we live in a democratic country and are free to think and act, it would be good to ask the right questions. I love my country, but refusing to examine our conscience can lead to a dead end.

Your western is mostly worn by women. For what ?
Westerns often depicted female characters dependent on men, archetypes that were difficult to identify with. However, I have always written resilient heroines. In Horizonwomen are plunged against their will into the environment chosen by their husbands or fathers, but they have a capacity for survival and strength far greater than that of men.

I do not pretend to understand women, I do not believe that men are capable of this, but I have always been careful not to exploit them in my films, not to assign them foil roles.

Kevin Costner

It was a political will to write them this way.
What I look for above all when I make a film is authenticity. I hope to entertain and transport the viewer, and I have a feeling that we limit our imaginations when we write with a conscience and a desire to be political. As a man, it’s obviously easier for me to create male characters for the simple reason that I know them better. But I have always had strong women around me who inspire me and who must unconsciously nurture my heroines. I do not claim to understand women, I do not believe that men are capable of this, but I have always been careful not to exploit them in my films, not to give them secondary roles. In the same way, I try to be respectful of other cultures that I represent, such as Native American cultures.

Your male characters also break free from the shackles of the invincible cowboy…
It was a difficult time when the world was not ruled by law, where everything was terribly dangerous. You should have solved your problems yourself. Your survival depended on your choices and decisions. However, no human being is infallible, and to say otherwise would be unrealistic. Men have always been victims of their vanity, their naivety, their stubbornness or their greed.

What were the models that shaped this thought?
At the root of everything are my parents. Examples of kindness who realized that small gestures cost nothing but mean a lot to those who accept them. I admire every human being who is turned towards others, and I especially admire the kindness of men; it takes a lot of strength and freedom to dare to admit it when society has been telling you constantly since birth that you should be tough and insensitive.

You have played many cowboys in movies. Do you consider yourself one of them?
No, but I cannot go against what the public projects me through the characters I play. However, I am far from it. A cowboy owned only what he carried on his back or on his mount; he was fundamentally a free man, with no earthly ties, no fixed job, no daily responsibilities. It is the exact opposite of the human that our modern societies are constructed through, among other things, the goals of ownership and sustainability.

Is aging a source of concern in this profession?
No, because acting does not define me. I’m only afraid of getting old because I want to see my children grow up, get married, become parents. The public perceives me first of all as an actor, but above all I am a father who questions himself about the future of his children, hopes to accompany them as long as possible and enjoy the beautiful moments of sharing with them. For example, five of them accompanied me when I went up the stairs in Cannes; one of the best moments of my career.

So directing is still not a way to land dream roles.
I don’t invest everything in my career, the main thing is somewhere else. However, I still have a passion for playing and I still write scores for myself. Many people think that the burden is too heavy when you have double hats, but I do it for each of my films. This can also help find funding when you are undertaking a project of this magnitude. But to be honest, I do it mostly for fun.

How much pressure has such an ambitious saga, followed by three sequels, put on?
Horizon accompanies me every day, every night, even in my dreams. It haunts me, it exhausts me, but it also galvanizes me.

Horizon: An American Saga part 1 by and with Kevin Costner. The second part on September 11.