Kevin Costner is sure that his upcoming four-part Western epic "Horizon: An American Saga" will be a huge success. And he's more than willing to put his money where his mouth is — even when it comes to his Santa Barbara, Calif., home.
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In a 2023 interview with Deadline, the "Yellowstone" star revealed that he took out a mortgage on his 10.25-acre waterfront property in Santa Barbara to fund the films. That coveted stretch of land sits just down the street from his other, 1.4-acre compound in Ventura that was a point of contention during his recent divorce from Christine Baumgartner, according to Insider. Before using the massive estate to bankroll the films, Costner said he planned to build a house there.
"I've mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house," he told Deadline. "But I did it without a thought. It has thrown my accountant into a f---ing conniption fit. But it's my life, and I believe in the idea and the story."
While the current status of Kevin Costner's Santa Barbara home is unknown, at one point, there was already a home on the property. Architectural Digest reported that Costner put the Santa Barbara land (which technically sits on a bluff in Carpinteria just outside the city) on the market for $60 million in 2017. According to that listing, the sole structure on the acreage was a "modest house" with just two bedrooms and one bathroom.
No photos of the interior were listed. But the exterior of the small home has a barn-style look that could easily be found on the Dutton family's ranch in Montana — except for sweeping Pacific Ocean views, of course.
Coldwell Banker
Tim Hoctor, the co-listing agent and friend of Costner's, told AD that the actor bought 17.25 acres of this cliffside land back in 2006 for $28.5 million. Rumor has it (i.e., Hoctor claimed) that he discovered the hidden gem while on a jog and sold 7 of the acres to his neighbor a year after purchasing it. Talk about a lucrative workout.
At the time, Costner had grand plans to build a bigger residence on land that would include a guesthouse and a pool. But for whatever reason, he scrapped those plans and put up a for-sale sign over a decade later instead. No one bought it, and the actor eventually took the property — which features private beach access, a horseback riding path and unobstructed ocean and mountain views — off the market.
Coldwell Banker
Page Six reported that the property — which is mostly undeveloped coastline land aside from the original house and a few other unknown structures he seems to have added over the years — is currently worth $145 million. The budget for the "Horizon" franchise that Costner has been working on for 30 years is about $100 million — $50 million of which is coming from the actor's personal bank account.
"At the end of the day, I'm a storyteller, and I went ahead and put my own money into it," Costner told Deadline. "I'm not a very good businessman, so, scratch your head, if you will. I don't know why, but I have not let go of this one. ... But I'll tell you what. I'm never gonna do this again. I'm never putting my f---ing money in another movie after these four."
The actor had remained hush-hush for a long time about his new film series, which follows a group of settlers over 15 years as they attempt to start over in the American West following the Civil War. It was originally written as a single script before Costner decided to turn it into a four-part movie series starring Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Ella Hunt, Abbey Lee, Jamie Campbell and, of course, Costner himself.
Coldwell Banker
In February, he told The Hollywood Reporter that writing, directing, starring in and funding the Western epic was "by far the biggest struggle." This allegedly led to the premature end of his other Western success, "Yellowstone." After an almost two-year hiatus, the hit Paramount Network series that he stars in will air its final episodes in November 2024.
"I wanted it to step away from what we usually see in Westerns where there's a town that's already there," he said. "These are real lives. People just making their way, women just trying to keep their families clean and fed ... I'm drawn to that. I'm always gonna get to my gunfight, but I'm drawn to the little things that people had to endure. So, to me, 'Horizon' was worth holding on to because I just felt like I wanted to tell it.
"It grew and it grew and it grew until suddenly I realized that I just had to make it, and I had to look to myself financially to do it — which is not the smartest thing. But I count on the movie speaking louder than anything I can say."
Part 1 of "Horizon" will reportedly hit theaters on June 28, with Part 2 following in August. The remaining two parts have not yet been filmed.
