Costner, 69, took to Instagram on Sunday, March 3, to share a heartfelt post about the 15-year-old making his acting debut in Horizon: An American Saga.
“It’s your movie you get to pick who you hang out with 👍🏻 Really proud of my son, Hayes, for making his acting debut in #HorizonAmericanSaga,” Costner wrote alongside a clip from the trailer. “And thanks to all of you for the love you’ve shown our trailer this week. I couldn’t be more excited to share this with you.”
The clip shows a barrage of gunfire centered around Hayes’ character and his family, who he’s ushering into a door beneath the floorboards of a house.
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“The best part of the Horizon: Part 1 trailer,” Costner wrote over the video as Hayes squats down amid the chaos. When Hayes says “I’m going to be with dad,” he shuts the door and “my son” appears on the screen.
Horizon is Costner’s first project since leaving Yellowstone and his first foray back into directing since 2003’s Open Range. A trailer was released on February 26, which the Oscar winner shared via Instagram. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Costner said in a video. “And I made it for you.”
The trailer suggests that Horizon will be an extraordinary cinematic experience, showcasing breathtaking vistas of the American West and boasting an impressive ensemble cast, including Danny Huston, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Costner himself. Chapter 1 is scheduled to premiere in theaters on June 28, while Chapter 2 is slated for release on August 16.
Costner previously stated his desire for Horizon to be a four-part epic, although the third and fourth chapters are not yet in the works. Before production began in 2022, Costner had been trying to get Horizon off the ground since the late 1980s.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Costner opened up about the long road to making the film during a panel discussion about the trailer in February, saying, “When no one wanted to make the first one, I got the bright idea to make four.”
He continued: “So I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But I wanted it to step away from what we usually see in Westerns where there’s a town that’s already there. No one knows how [the town] came to be. … We have a lot of Westerns that aren’t good too because they get simplified. [But] this isn’t Disneyland. These are real lives.”
Costner shares Hayes with ex-wife Christine Baumgartner, with whom he also shares son Cayden, 16, and daughter Grace, 13. The former couple reportedly settled their divorce in September 2023 after months of back and forth in court. Costner also shares Annie, 39, Lily, 37, and Joe, 36, with ex-wife Cindy Silva and son Liam, 28, with ex Bridget Rooney.