Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers in Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1.
The Big Picture
One part of
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1
takes place in Montana, following Marigole and Hayes who are on the run from the powerful Sykes family.
Actors Jamie Campbell Bower and Abbey Lee discuss their storylines, filming challenges, and working with Kevin Costner.
The film’s period-accurate costumes and challenging locations added difficulty to the production, but it also brought authenticity to the story.
Far from the arid and hot deserts of the southwest, Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 journeys north up to Montana, where we meet a group of characters that are seemingly separated from the rest of the story. When the film starts, we meet the daring Lucy (Jena Malone) as she shoots a man and leaves him to die before escaping in a wagon with her child. Unfortunately, the man she shoots happens to be the patriarch of an influential and powerful family, which leads her to a life on the run from the man’s sons, Junior (Jon Beavers) and Caleb Sykes (Jamie Campbell Bower).
Years later, Lucy, now called Ellen, is married and raising her son in a small town in the mountains. Oftentimes, her sister Marigold (Abbey Lee) will come and look after her son. When Junior and Caleb finally catch up to Lucy, they’re intent on getting revenge for their father and getting their baby brother back. Marigold, who is watching over the boy, is forced to flee her town with the traveller Hayes (Kevin Costner) or be killed by the Sykes.
We spoke with both Jamie Campbell Bower and Abbey Lee about their storylines in Horizon: An American Saga. For Bower, whose character Caleb faces off with Hayes in a deadly showdown, we discussed his final scene and acting across Kevin Costner. The actor discussed the nuances of filmmaking and his impression of Costner’s performance. Lee discusses whether we’ll see Marigold again, who travels with Hayes until the end of the film, when she abandons him and leaves Ellen’s son with some random travellers to adopt. The two actors also discussed the struggles they had filming for the Western epic, with Lee particularly speaking about the difficulty she had with the period-accurate costuming. Watch the video interview with Bower and Lee above, or read the full transcript of the interview below.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.
Release Date June 28, 2024
Main Genre Western
Writers Jon Baird
Jamie Campbell Bower Recounts Filming His Showdown With Kevin Costner in ‘Horizon’
COLLIDER: Jamie, I’m gonna start off with you. I’m sad that Caleb’s journey came to an end in this film. I thought he was gonna be around for a little bit longer. I really like how unpredictable his character was. Can you talk about filming one-on-one with Kevin Costner in that final scene, and what that final showdown between Caleb and Hayes was like?
JAMIE CAMPBELL BOWER: It was a blessing to film that scene. It was a blessing to be given such amazing material, obviously by Jon [Baird] and Kevin. Kevin and I would rehearse that scene when Kevin had a spare moment because, obviously, it’s a very important moment for Hayes too. It’s kind of the introduction to him, and you get to see more of his toughness and more of his strength, as well. But from a personal standpoint, there are these great moments that happen when you’re an actor. You can think about something as much as you want, but there are these electric, magic moments that happen when you’re stood in front of a human being that you can’t predict, and we had a few of those. We were lucky to have a few of those in this particular scene. It was just great fun. It was really, really good fun.
The subtlety of Kevin, as well, as a director — I’ve mentioned this a lot of times, and poor Abbey, bless her, she had to sit here and listen to this — but these subtle moments of just one character taking the foreground in the same shot, and then switching, as well, and they both end up like this, it’s very subtle, but it’s very, very smart filmmaking and that’s really good fun to do. Then, you know, I don’t like losing. [Laughs] I really don’t. I don’t like that at all, and I felt, being able to stand opposite Kevin and hold this gun, I was like, “Yeah, I’m badass,” and then, you know, he just knocks it out the park, and you’re like, “Oh, man, okay, I gotta do better next time.” [Laughs]
Related Kevin Costner Is Already Filming ‘Horizon’ Chapter 3
Costner hopes to release a total of four films in ‘The American Saga.’
Abbey Lee Gives Insight Into Why Marigold Leaves Hayes in ‘Horizon’
Image via Warner Bros.
Abbey, I love Marigold in this movie. I feel like she’s got so many sides to her that can be explored. It seems like for a minute there, she might be with Hayes for the long haul, but then she ends up abandoning him, which is fair. Will we see more of her character, and if not, where do you imagine her character ends up? Have you thought about that?
ABBEY LEE: You do see more of Marigold. She does turn up in the second one. I don’t know how far along. Kevin has a way of making this film, which is amazing, where it’s just kind of happening as it’s happening. So, things pop up, he writes things for you, he throws you in a scene, and so I don’t know where she’s going to end in, but she is in the second one. I think Marigold is a person who just keeps trucking forward. It’s not unusual that she abandons Hayes because she cons, she doesn’t stick with anybody. She’s not somebody who’s meant for one person. Marigold is like a free-spirited woman who keeps trying to be independent and has to use people on the way. She’s kind of someone who’s figured out her currency and she just kind of takes advantage of people as she’s trying to get ahead. So, in the second one, it’s very similar. You see her fighting for her life and running. She just keeps running.
Bower and Lee Reveal What They Struggled With the Most Filming ‘Horizon’
For each of you, what was the most difficult part of filming these movies? Was it filming in these locations? Was it the climate? What was the most challenging aspect?
BOWER: I think, being English, you’re on the back foot already. [Laughs] So, it was just making sure that I was bringing that level of authenticity that I want to bring to anything that I do. I love being outdoors. I love that part of the world. I’ve spent time there before, so the elements were, yes, treacherous but also great fun. I love that.
LEE: I think for me the most difficult part was definitely the wardrobe. It was brilliant that Lisa Lovaas, who designed them, was very, very adamant that they felt genuine, that they were sincerely from that time. I was really wearing a fully pulled, knotted corset, and there’s not just one skirt, there’s skirt under skirt under skirt under skirt that was tied by rope. Women in those days didn’t have metal buttons or whatever, so it was all rope-bound. So, at the end of a shooting day, I had rope burns and marks on my body from where the corset was. I just can’t believe that that’s how people lived and that that’s how women got around each day. So, for me, I found that just… I was so frustrated. I couldn’t breathe properly, and I couldn’t move properly. I felt so restricted, which is great for the character, but yeah, I found it frustrating.
Horizon: An American Saga is in theaters now.
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