One of the legal filings Christine Baumgartner made amid her divorce from Kevin Costner last summer was a request for more info on Costner’s finances with regards to a multi-film project, Horizon, for which he essentially mortgaged their Carpinteria mansion. The request didn’t really go anywhere, in fact it was shortly after that the exes settled. Now an audience at Cannes will get to judge whether the movie was worth the farm, er, mansion. Horizon: An American Saga, will premiere the first film (of a planned four in total) at the festival. So Deadline has a new in-depth interview with Costner… where he spent a good chunk of the time lamenting the way the Yellowstone PR team maligned him in the press.

His kids insisted he put up the house to make Horizon! My kids might not get the 10 acres [the waterfront Santa Barbara property Costner put at risk]. But they’re going to have homes, and they’re going to have my legacy and the wealth that follows, from my estate. They can make up their own lives. But I’m not going to let anything hold me back. … Mine are so clear about it. Dad, you do what you want to do. We don’t need all these things. We’ve enjoyed all these things, but we don’t need them. They just don’t want to see me just work myself to death.

He’s been waiting for Horizon promotion… to clap back about Yellowstone: I have taken a beating from those f*cking guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. … I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy [Taylor Sheridan] was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me. You asked me the question, I’m going to answer it. I don’t do press outside my movies. … They should have known that there was going to be an opportunity for me to say something. I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.

And now we’re talking about Ahab and Moby Dick: I first saw obsession in my life when I saw Moby Dick with Gregory Peck. … He was willing to take men down. And the difference with Francis [Ford Coppola] is, and difference with me is, we may have a bit of Ahab in us, but our obsession isn’t such that we would take other people down. We put ourselves on the line, we shoulder it all. Other people get paid. For me, it’ll be two or three years without a salary from Horizon. Try it, see how it feels. … Try doing that, with a lot of money going out. He’s not crying to anybody. I’m not crying to anybody. But if you think it’s easy, try it.

Yellowstone season five (Kevin’s version): I didn’t shoot 5B. There was no script. And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of this behind-the-scenes drama] for a year and a half. I left my movie to be on time for them for 5B. I left exactly when they wanted, and it made it hard on me. It turns out they didn’t have the scripts for 5B. They needed four more days just to complete the first eight episodes. I left early to give them what they needed to have a complete eight, and I felt bad that the audience didn’t get 10. They didn’t have the scripts for anything else. So, what you read in the end was that I said, “Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.” I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.

[From Deadline]

Here’s the thing, Costner could be right about how things went down with Yellowstone. I would never, ever underestimate the maneuverings of a network hit show’s PR machine. And we know that Taylor Sheridan is spread thin at Paramount, albeit by his own making (he’s the only one who can do all the writing!). That being said, the way Costner lays out his account is a bit more confusing than vindicating. We the public weren’t in the weeds with him during all the contract negotiations and filming delays, so a lot of the details flew right over my head. Plus it’s all an unnecessary distraction from the whole reason he’s doing an interview to begin with — to promote his passion project! Just hype your movie, Kevin! Look towards your Horizon! (Sorry, not sorry.)

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