Kevin Costner, whose most recent project is directing and starring in the new film “Horizon: An American Saga,” shared his inspiration when creating the film in an interview with The Christian Post. Costner explained his awareness of the fact that he couldn’t depict the stories in the film without highlighting the crucial role that faith played in their lives. The film is a Western-drama that is described as “Families, friends and foes discover the lure of the Old West as the Civil War divides the country.”

​​”Faith is what guided people out there to the unknown,” the 69-year-old Oscar-winning actor and director told The Christian Post. “They just leaned on it. There was this promise, but the promise was not enough. You had to go on faith. And people brought the religion with them west.” He continued, “I grew up a Baptist and church has always been a part of my life, my grandmother, the whole thing, so I don’t mind it bleeding into a movie. I don’t force it in. But when I think about why people went west, when they said goodbye to people back east, they never saw them again, there was some kind of trust that people needed to lean on, because they were often times in situations where they didn’t even know what they were doing. They were out of control, they needed faith.” The actor added that he wanted to subtly infuse scripture into the narrative. “I wanted [Scripture to] obviously relate to the situation,” Costner said.

Costner stars alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Luke Wilson in the film as well as directing, producing and co-writing the three-hour film. “Horizon: An American Saga,” which hit theaters on June 28th, is the first of a four-part series. The second part, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” will hit the theaters six weeks later on August 16th. The third part is expected to be released in 2025.