The first movie in Kevin Costner’s planned four-part epic Horizon: An American Saga did not exactly impress at the box office this weekend, only taking in $11 million on its debut. But the people involved insist the project is about more than opening weekend profits.
Horizon is admittedly very long; the first installment of a planned four is three hours long in itself. But there can be value in that. Michael Rooker, who is part of the huge ensemble of actors in Costner’s new Western epic, tells TMZ in a new interview that Horizon is “real cinema” and a counter to “crap” like TikTok videos.
“It’s real cinema, folks. Be prepared. We ain’t used to that s—,” Rooker told TMZ. “We’re used to 90-minute movies. Everything is 90 minutes. Give me a break. Get over that s—. Let’s watch a movie that actually tells a story where you learn about the people and grow to like them or hate them. It’s not all fast and cut, cut cut.”
When asked if modern viewers were too “TikTok-ified” into having shorter attention spans, Rooker heartily agreed.
“Of course they are,” he said. “They got to get over that crap. They got to learn how to watch real cinema, please.”
Horizon follows several interweaving storylines about the settlement of the American West. Costner plays horse trader Hayes Ellison while Rooker plays Sgt. Major Thomas Riordan, an officer for the Union Army in the ongoing Civil War. The ensemble cast also includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, and Danny Huston, among others.
As Costner explained to Entertainment Weekly back in May, he’s been wanting to tell the story of Horizon for decades — to the point that his son Hayes is even named after the lead character that Costner plays.
“I just don’t fall out of love with things I like. I am always looking for the next great movie,” Costner told EW.
The project was self-financed by Costner. That carries a lot of financial risk for the director-star, but also bought him creative freedom. In another recent interview with EW, Costner said: “I am happiest that the movie…looks the way I want it to look.”
Rooker has a history with Costner on screen, having played one of the investigators on the team led by Jim Garrison in Oliver Stone’s conspiracy classic JFK. More recently, Rooker is better-known to movie audiences as the blue-skinned Ravagers leader Yondu in the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
The second installment in Horizon: An American Saga is due in theaters on Aug. 16.