Kevin Costner Jokes about Blocking Cannes Yachts to Finance ‘Horizon’ Films

US director Kevin Costner attends the press conference for "Horizon: An American Saga" during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 20 May 2024. (Getty Images)
US director Kevin Costner attends the press conference for "Horizon: An American Saga" during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 20 May 2024. (Getty Images)
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Kevin Costner Jokes about Blocking Cannes Yachts to Finance ‘Horizon’ Films

US director Kevin Costner attends the press conference for "Horizon: An American Saga" during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 20 May 2024. (Getty Images)
US director Kevin Costner attends the press conference for "Horizon: An American Saga" during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 20 May 2024. (Getty Images)

Kevin Costner joked at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday that he was ready to blockade rich people on their yachts unless they gave him money to finance his planned four-part Western series "Horizon: An American Saga."

The Hollywood star has already taken out a mortgage on 10 acres of his waterfront property in California to help fund the film project, which tells of the challenges faced by settlers expanding the American West in the late 1800s. Now, he needs more financial backing for the project.

"If we all went out together into this harbor and we stood in front of one boat. And didn't let those rich people off, and we can tell them, 'Look, you can dress up, you can walk on the red carpet,' you know..." Costner told a packed news conference.

"I have knocked on every boat in Cannes to help me. They say 'Ooh, come have a picture', I say 'No, come get your chequebook out. I want to see. Let's talk money," he added.

The first two parts are complete, with the 181-minute initial chapter premiering out of competition at the festival on Sunday. It will be released in North America and select European locations on June 28, followed by part two on Aug. 16.

Filming on the third chapter began before Costner set out for Cannes.

"This has been so hard. And it's not over yet," he told Reuters in an interview at the festival.

MIXED REVIEWS

Costner will star in, direct, produce and co-write the film series, which covers a 15-year period before and after the 1861-1865 Civil War when white settlers expanded westward in the United States, taking land from American Indians.

Costner's previous credits in Westerns include his Oscar-winning "Dances With Wolves" in 1990 and more recently as the star of the successful five-season TV series "Yellowstone."

"I can't fill every box every time I try to make a movie, but I'm absolutely conscious of what's at stake, and trying to represent people," Costner said at the news conference.

"Horizon," with Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee and Dale Dickey among the cast, is also heavily oriented towards women, added Costner.

Reviews trended towards the negative, with Britain's The Guardian newspaper calling it "a big vain slog up familiar old west alleys," while another British newspaper, The Telegraph, said it would please those who pine for old-fashioned Westerns.

"Costner may have just invented granddad cinema," read The Telegraph headline.



Unreleased Beyonce Music Stolen From Car in Atlanta

FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
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Unreleased Beyonce Music Stolen From Car in Atlanta

FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Computer drives containing unreleased music by US superstar Beyonce and plans related to her concerts were stolen last week in Atlanta, police said Monday, with a suspect still at large.

The items were stolen from a rental car used by Beyonce's choreographer and a dancer on July 8, two days before the pop icon kicked off the Atlanta leg of her "Cowboy Carter" tour, a police incident report said, according to AFP.

Choreographer Christopher Grant, 37, told police that he returned to the car to find its rear-window smashed and their luggage stolen.

Inside were multiple jump drives that "contained water marked music, some un-released music, footage plans for the show, and past and future set list (sic)," the report said.

Also missing were an Apple MacBook, headphones and several items of luxury clothing.

Police investigated an area where the MacBook and headphones had pinged their location, but the report did not mention any items being recovered.

Atlanta Police said in an online statement that a warrant had been issued for an unnamed suspect's arrest, but that the suspect remained at large.

The "Cowboy Carter" tour kicked off in April after the global superstar took home her first "Album of the Year" Grammy for the 2024 album.

The sweeping country-themed work saw Beyonce stake out musical territory in a different genre from much of her previous discography.

The ambitious, historically rooted album also aimed to elevate and showcase the work of other Black artists in country music, whose rich contributions the industry has repeatedly sidelined.

As her stadium tour to promote the album winds down, Beyonce ended her four-night stint in Atlanta on Monday, with two final performances set for late July in Las Vegas.