Costner to direct and star in an epic western "Horizon"

Kevin Costner is set to get back behind the camera for the first time since 2003’s critically acclaimed Open Range. Costner will direct the period Western Horizon, setting an August 29 production start in Utah. Costner will star in the film, produce it and finance it through his Territory Pictures production company.

While he has been busy starring for the past few years in the hit series Yellowstone, Horizon has been a longtime passion project for Costner, and one that has the sweep of his 1990 epic Dances With Wolves, the film that won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Costner among seven wins out of a dozen Oscar nominations.

Horizon chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west. “America’s expansion into the west was one that was fraught with peril and intrigue from the natural elements, to the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land, and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it,” Costner told Deadline. “Horizon tells the story of that journey in an honest and forthcoming way, highlighting the points of view and consequences of the characters life and death decisions.”

Casting for the expansive film will begin in February.