Kevin Costner’s new interview is a candid discussion that covers both Horizon: An American Saga and Yellowstone. Still, it’s also a shocking confirmation of one fact: Kevin Costner and John Dutton are one and the same.
Across the past year, Kevin Costner has kept decidedly tight-lipped about the ongoing Yellowstone drama. That is, until now.
In an interview about his upcoming Western film series, Horizon: An American Saga, Costner decided to address some of Yellowstone’s most debated truths. Thanks to his clarity, some of the biggest issues can be put to bed, including the rumored feud between Costner and Taylor Sheridan, the Horizon scheduling issues, and the subject of his willingness to return.
However, what the Deadline interview mostly proved was that Costner is undoubtedly, irrevocably, spiritually entwined with his Yellowstone character, John Dutton.
A hearty monologue for an answer
Immediately, Costner sets the precedent for the kind of ride that this interview is going to be, which is wild. When asked about how it feels that Horizon is headed to Cannes for its debut and the second film is close to completion, Costner answers with a deeply sincere monologue about the meaning of legacy.
“That’s kind of an interesting question,” Costner says. “I will say this to you. We don’t know how much time we have on this Earth. You’re going to drive home. You don’t know if somebody gets on the on-ramp going the wrong way.”
He then explains how this exact scenario happened to someone he knew, framing his own methodology for life and how it impacted his stance on making Horizon.
But his final point is the strongest, producing a quote that could be straight out of Yellowstone as he says: “There was a window into where my heart was. And when people speak of you later, they should speak of your heart.”
While John Dutton’s monologues often leave a little to be desired when it comes to… well, writing and sense, it can’t be denied that this kind of semi-melancholic and profound sense of thinking is the very force that drives John Dutton.
Leave him alone
Once the interview starts to get into the Yellowstone weeds, Costner takes a firm turn into clearing the murkiness surrounding the ongoing drama that led to his exit.
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It could be argued that the most readable part of this is when Costner says: “I don’t want to get down in the gutter with the Yellowstone thing,” only to immediately talk about nothing but Yellowstone for a significant period, but his most Dutton-esque way of thinking steals the show soon after.
When making it clear that he prefers to do press only surrounding his upcoming projects, he says: “I don’t do press outside my movies. I don’t live in the press, in between.” This kind of off-handed distaste for the media or public existence is one that John Dutton is often seen expressing on-screen.
But much like John, who must become Governor of Montana to protect the interests of his ranch, Costner must open the gates while trying to promote his four-part Western saga.
Keep your opinions to yourself
The biggest similarity between Costner and his fictional counterpart is, put simply, their lack of care about what people think. For John, that includes everyone, even his family. Ultimately, he’ll do what he thinks is right. For Costner, it’s about something as simple as Horizon’s lengthy runtime.
While discussing the merits of various runtimes Costner has circulated during the Horizon edit, the interviewer makes a comment about the ideal length. To this, Costner replies: “Oh, shut up. I don’t care if you think 2:50 is the perfect length for my movie.”
This is, of course, “teasing” on Costner’s part, but his knee-jerk reaction is so astoundingly candid that I struggled to continue scrolling down for at least a minute or so, still reeling from the sheer Dutton-ness of it all.
Frankly, all this interview does is make me want to see Horizon: An American Saga even more. We must witness this creation, the project that has caused Costner to come out of the woodwork in this way. John Dutton might already be dead at the hands of Taylor Sheridan’s final scripts, but Kevin Costner…he lives in you.
For more, check out our guide to the Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 release date. You can also check out our other feature on why Kevin Costner will either save the Western or kill them off entirely.