Kevin Costner on the Dark Side of Hollywood: “Holy Hell Breaks Loose”
If there’s one thing that’s always been true about Kevin Costner, it’s that he doesn’t take shortcuts. Throughout his career, the Hollywood veteran has been known for taking creative control of his projects — often clashing with directors and studios in the process.
But there’s no denying Costner’s legacy. Over nearly four decades, he’s delivered more culturally defining films than most actors dream of. Between The Untouchables, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, JFK, and The Bodyguard, Costner dominated the late ’80s and early ’90s with back-to-back hits.
His greatest triumphs often came from his willingness to bet on himself — financially and artistically. He’s never been shy about ignoring studio notes or spending his own money to realize his vision. That boldness won him Oscars for Dances with Wolves and fueled box office successes — but it also led to some high-profile misfires, like Waterworld and The Postman. Still, Costner has never backed away from a challenge.
That same spirit drove him to make Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, released in 2024. A sweeping four-part Western that he wrote, directed, and funded in part himself (to the tune of $38 million), Horizon was a classic Costner gamble: ambitious, personal, and uncompromising.
But in making Horizon, Costner ran into a familiar foe — one he’s always resented about Hollywood: test screenings.
“God forbid they go test screen it,” he said in a joint interview with fellow iconoclast Francis Ford Coppola. “Then, holy hell breaks loose.”
To Costner, testing movies with sample audiences is one of Hollywood’s most misguided habits. He sees cinema as an emotional experience — not a science to be measured. Assigning scores to something so subjective, he argues, reduces art to data. “That’s when movies are at their most vulnerable,” he said. “When we start giving them scores.”
His aversion to testing goes back decades. He refused to trim The Postman despite brutal test screening reactions and resisted cuts to Waterworld, though the studio ultimately shortened it by nearly 40 minutes.
So when it came to Horizon, Costner once again stuck to his guns. Chapter 1 ran a lengthy 181 minutes and was released exactly how he intended. The film struggled at the box office, putting the rest of the saga in jeopardy — but Costner didn’t flinch.
“I know, absolutely, that because of testing, studio executives live or die depending on what happens Friday night,” he said. “But movies can have a life long after that. I believe in the life of the movie more than I believe in the opening weekend.”
