Costner, crew team up with Southern Utah tribe to protect, preserve while filming on reservation

The soothing sound of the Santa Clara River and soft red dirt on the Shivwits Band of Paiutes Indian reservation was the background for some movie scenes. The tribal land spans 28,000 acres in southwestern Washington County, 12 miles northwest of St. George, near Ivins, Utah.

Shivwits Reservation Land Resources Manager Travis Duran told St George News that the Oscar-winning director and crew treated the land and its people respectfully.

“The best thing was working with Kevin’s crew. We’re all working together and they were more active in asking what they should be careful of,” Duran said. “We’re in cultural sites in a couple of the areas, which I pointed out, and they respected everything.”

Costner told St. George News his first choice of location on the reservation didn’t pan out, even though he kept trying to make it work.

“Every day, my dream was to film at this other place. We even built a suspension bridge,” Costner said. “And we were going to crane our wagons 50 feet in the air over the river, drop them down on that location. So I had it on my head, we built it, we had the cranes out there. And then the big snowpack came. And everybody said, ‘The water’s gonna come up’.”

Costner said he made “a snap decision” about what to do when the Santa Clara River rose about 12 feet higher than expected. The mountains nearby had a record snowfall. He said at the original location, the river came up over the suspension bridge they had built and flooded.

“It broke my heart because losing my location turns me into a baby a little bit because I have my mind set on what it’s going to look like and how people will enjoy it,” Costner said.

Costner had to let go of the first location choice when he didn’t want to. He and his production company crew, Territory Pictures, looked at a backup spot on the reservation up higher, and it was really beautiful.

But that was the problem with that second location, it was stunning and Costner needed a more lonely place for the scene in the film.

“It’s what the ancestors faced, ‘If we go this way, we might not make it,’” Costner said. “So this is a really desolate place. So this is their last stop.”

When the second suggested location didn’t work out, Costner said he sent his crew to search in a helicopter to scout a suitable replacement location.

“I said, ‘Let’s run this river, the Santa Clara, all the way to the Virgin River.’ I was throwing prayers up on what’s going to happen,” Costner said. “I secretly didn’t want to have another place. But I knew the first place wasn’t going to work.”

Later, Costner found a new spot he liked, also on the Shivwits reservation.

“It’s a good lesson for everybody; sometimes you just have to let some things go,” Costner said.

Costner had his location team re-contact Duran, who Costner praised for being flexible on changing locations and being a pleasure to work with.

“Travis Duran, who showed us the first spot, is an amazing man from the tribe, just an amazing individual,” Costner said. “I was sad when we couldn’t use his first place. But he never pouted, he never felt bad about that, he never made me feel guilty.”

Duran said he appreciated that Costner and his crew respected the Native American land. For example, the production team put up signs cautioning if a plant or specific area needed protection on the set. This helped people from accidentally stepping on them.

“Everybody worked together to keep people away from different things, which was pretty great,” Duran said.

He added that although that first location didn’t work for filming, the area was improved by Costner’s production company. The road upgrades and access to the first location considered for the film will benefit the tribal members in the future.

“We already had an old, small gate at that area,” Duran said. “Now there is a bigger gate and they improved and widened the roads.”

Duran added that the improvements on the land would allow Native American families more access to picnic in the area. Duran said some of his Paiute tribal members were excited after seeing the improvements, including clearing overgrown brush and widening and improving the road. Plus, Costner’s company paid for the band to be able to re-seed the land.

“Kevin’s people are great,” Duran said. “So there was nothing that harmed anything; it’s just more of cleaning things up, which was good for the people.”

Another key Native American on the movie set was Shivwits Band member Little Sun. He works with Duran on land resources projects on the reservation and integrated with the production crew and worked closely with their Greens Team throughout their time on the property to clear the invasive tamarisk plants and open the view on the riverbank.

“For Kevin, it was a key element of the location for the many of the scenes that would film there and Little Sun’s skill level and work ethic was a great match for getting the site ready for cameras to roll,” Duran said.

Costner was grateful the final location for a scene for the film by the Santa Clara River worked out, which was 40 miles away from his first choice.

“We were able to come here, work and have this new place transformed in two and a half days,” Costner said.

Supervising Location Manager Andrew Hodge said local business owners Steven and Cindy Gilbert of Gilbert Development Corporation of Hurricane offered their helicopter to save time scouting remote locations in Southern Utah. Hodge is based in Salt Lake City and helps Costner “fulfill his vision” for the film. Hodge also manages logistics and permits for filming in Utah and lives in Salt Lake City. He has been working with Costner’s film company for a year and a half.

Hodge praised the experience working with the area Native American bands of Paiutes on the film.

“Both the Shivwits and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians have been extremely helpful to let us scout and to take us to different properties that we thought could work either in this film, No. 2 or the future 3 and 4 movies where we want to be doing some filming again around St. George,” Hodge said.

One of the challenges and joys of the four-film series is that the locations are mainly outside versus an indoor sound stage. Production Designer Derek Hill has worked with Costner for 34 years, beginning with the film “JFK.” Hill started as a set decorator, an art director and became a designer. Hill was recently working on the TV series “Jack Ryan” in Europe.

“Kevin and I go way back. And as my agent says, I usually get the tough directors and the tough jobs. That speaks a little for what it is; this show is all outdoors,” Hill said. “It’s not a studio film where you’re inside a sound stage. We have a few stages, but everything is outside in the climate in Utah.”

The first part of the movie was shot in and around Moab, Utah, in 2022 after the State Legislature passed Utah’s State Film Production Amendments bill, which excepted rural productions from the state’s annual tax incentive program limits. The program requires production companies to use local actors and vendors as much as possible.

“Horizon: An American Saga 2” will bring an estimated $90 million into the economy of Washington County, according to Sales Manager Joyce Kelly of the Greater Zion Convention and Tourism Office.

Costner is producing the film through his Territory Pictures. Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute a New Line Cinema presentation of a Territory Pictures production, the “Horizon: An American Saga 2” films in the United States of America.

This is the first of a three-part series on the production “Horizon: An American Saga 2” in Utah.

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