Sienna Miller grew up as a huge fan of Kevin Costner's films, so much so that she named her pet rabbits after animals from Dances with Wolves. Today, she is starring alongside her idol in his ambitious film series Horizon: An American Saga. The first two installments, each around three hours long, premiere this summer, with the first to be released on June 28. At 42, Miller admits she is still star-struck. "I'm a child of the 90s. I can still barely look at Kevin because he was such a huge part of my childhood," she told AFP.
Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning 1990 movie Dances with Wolves profoundly impacted Sienna Miller. "It was the first time I really had my heart broken by a film. I was obsessed with it," she said. Reflecting her admiration, she named her pet rabbits Two Socks and Cisco after the wolf and horse in the movie.
Horizon, the four-part project that Costner mortgaged his home to fund, explores the violent frontier of the 19th century as European settlers encroached on Native American lands. Sienna Miller portrays a woman whose family is attacked, leading to a brutal struggle for survival. "I like to think I would be an OK frontier woman. I'm more outdoorsy than you might assume," she mused. However, she acknowledged the harsh realities, contrasting Kevin Costner's romanticism of the era with her practical perspective. "I don't think it would have been fun. It was a very difficult time to be alive," she added.
During the filming of the second installment, Sienna Miller was pregnant, making the tough filming conditions even more challenging. "We were really out in nature. It was hard, with corsets, heat and scorpions. I found red earth in my hair for a month, up my nose, ears, every orifice. Well, not every orifice," she laughed. Only Kevin Costner knew about her pregnancy during the shoot, and she admitted, "I was feeling pretty sick. That corset was not my friend!"
Sienna Miller also appreciated the opportunity to delve into the historical period. "This country, with its indigenous people who were violently, brutally exterminated in a horrific genocide – that isn't talked about nearly enough," she said. "It's a bloody, gory, devastating history. Yet, it happened. And I think being able to look at it and show the truth is refreshing."
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, where Horizon had its world premiere last month, Kevin Costner shared that he began working on the script back in 1988 but struggled to find studio backing. "I loved it, so I decided to write four parts, which is very American of me, insane," he said.
Reviews have been mixed. Despite the risks and the critics, Costner remains unfazed about potential financial ruin. "What's the fear? If they take it away, I still have my movie. I still have my integrity. I still listened to my heart," he affirmed.
With AFP
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