IntroA 30 year American saga in the making, Kevin Costner brings a sprawling depiction of the American West told through slices of life juxtaposed by the migration into uncharted territory. Offscreen Central was lucky enough to speak to actor Jamie Campbell Bower about the individualism of Caleb Sykes, going head to head with Kevin Costner, and how his wardrobe and harsh settings contributed to the animalistic nature of his character.

Jillian Chilingerian: So nice to meet you. I’m very excited to talk about Caleb with you. From his first scene, you immediately get who he is, as a person, amongst his family, he’s very much individualist within this collective. How was it to figure out that dynamic of him?
Jamie Campbell Bower: Yeah, that’s cool. He’s an individual, but aren’t we all? I think the thing that I gravitated towards, first and foremost, within the script, there’s this sort of intuitive part of you that does the reading that feels comfortable within that world. Then there comes the work that goes on behind that. The thing that struck a chord with me was the fact that his mother hits him and where has that come from? This is something that’s gone on for a very long time and what does that create for an individual? She tried to beat the person out of him trying to make him fall in line. Well, chances are that kid is probably not being heard so if he’s not being heard, and you’re trying to beat the person out of him, well, he’s going to shout. He’s going to grow more, he’s going to become something bigger and something meaner and something tougher. That was kind of how I figured out what that was and what that creates for him is this level of he wants to one-up himself in any social situation, including with his mom, his dad, and his brother in whatever capacity that presents itself. That was how I got to it. But credit where credit’s due, it’s on the page, you’ve figured that out, you grab that from what’s been written.

Jillian Chilingerian: Going off that I love that moment with Caleb and Hayes, where they’re walking up towards the cabin. It is almost like a dance. Kevin is your director, your writer, your fellow actor, and how is it to experience that moment with him? Because I feel like he’s iconic in his own right and you’re iconic. How was that day of filming? That just seems like a dream day.
Jamie Campbell Bower: That was so sweet for saying I’m iconic. I don’t feel like it at all. It was, it was awesome. My dad, my cousin, and I are huge Costner fans. My cousin and I are the same age, both born in 88. So Kevin Costner, the movie star and the director, are big parts of our lives. The family Whatsapp group is just absolutely popping off. Then you get to meet the man, and people have asked me throughout this press run, What’s it like? I have to say this human being has this heart that is just so open, and it’s just bursting with passion and love. You just feel that from him immediately. I was overwhelmed by how that affected me. I really was and it’s and it still affects me to just talk to him today. Then you get into the meat of it and it’s time to go and I as an actor, I enjoy moments of confrontation. I like going head-to-head with other actors so it’s, it’s fun, particularly when the words are great. Kevin just builds this trust, he trusts you and you trust him. Within that, there’s just so much room to play with each other and of course, he’s also directing the thing as well. We’re staring into each other’s eyes trying to be the meanest, toughest dudes that we can be but then he’ll come up with an idea where he’s like, I want at this point, I remember it’s in the film. I remember him saying, I’m just gonna need you to take a step down or take a step up and it changes from a profile to shot into the front two shot, and at the time I was like, okay, all right, I’ll just do this and then you see, and you’re like, that’s why because it fucking rocks.
Jillian Chilingerian: It is one of those scenes where you as an audience member, I’m like, how did they map that out? It is natural, but you’re thinking, there must have been so many tweaks to get that framing. I couldn’t imagine my director and my writer also acting with me and doing all that together.
Jamie Campbell Bower: It was fun. It was great and a lot of it was intuition. It was finding out through reading, where we need to place our heavier moments so we naturally come to a pause and that’s cool. Let’s rock with that.

Jillian Chilingerian: I love it when a film or a TV show is filmed on location with naturalism around, it’s just so gorgeous to watch. The different environments informed the characters as well as their dress. For Caleb, he’s from these very harsh, snowy, conditions. He has fur it is animalistic in nature. How did your environment and your clothing, in addition to what was on the page inform you about this character?
Jamie Campbell Bower: Lisa, our costume designer, was amazing. I don’t know if it was the same for everyone else, but we pulled a lot of looks from Western Costume out here in LA, which are just iconic. We spoke about jewelry and specifically hats, but jewelry was a big thing, because it was like, alright, well, if I’m gonna be wearing jewelry, where’s that come from? Let’s talk about that. We got to this point where we were like, we guess he’s just killed people and taken their necklaces. The fur helps, it is a cold and harsh environment, and it’s very much of the time that that would be something that you would wear something that you would use. There’s a great moment that happens between Junior and Caleb, where Junior drags him down the stairs and pushes him and my coat kind of falls off. It was that thing where you kind of have to put it back on again, but you’re staring at your brother and you’re like, Oh, well, just that very nature of doing that physical action and staring into your eyes. I’m like, you want to go? Let’s go right. A huge, huge help. We’re actors and we’re so fortunate nowadays, if we get to be in the place that we’re doing the thing that we’re meant to be doing. It makes you feel it more, you’re looking out onto a wide-open landscape, you’re not looking out onto a studio wall, what you’re getting is reality, you’re getting that sort of immediate sense of response.

Jillian Chilingerian: Mentioning Caleb’s brother, both of them are very appearance-wise uniform, but as we talk, like, he’s vastly different. He’s very individualistic. How did you tap into that brotherly dynamic? You are on the same mission with very different approaches.
Jamie Campbell Bower: There were amazing things that happened whilst we make films and a lot of that does come in the casting process and this film is no different. Jon Beavers was cast and immediately the day we met it was just on, there was a fire, there was trust, there was a love there between us and that just blossomed into a really honest friendship. When you’re in these moments in the film of confrontation that they do have, there has to be a trust in each of you that like, all right, like you’re gonna push each other around, but like, if you’re on the edge of a cliff, you’re going to be able to grab that person and pull them back off the edge of the cliff. That was there from the get-go with Jon and they are, Junior And Caleb are, they’re quite different. Caleb is a little shitbag and he talks away for hours and just runs his mouth, Junior is a lot more considered. There’s a spark within him if he pushed, where he probably could explode at any minute. And that’s what I love about Jon’s performance in this. It’s like, rage is right there. When he’s talking to Ellen we see that vein in front of his head. It’s growing. We’ve just loved each other from the start.

Jillian Chilingerian: Thank you so much for the time and for answering all of my questions. Congratulations on the film and it was so nice to be able to chat more with you.
Jamie Campbell Bower: It was a pleasure. Thank you very much and thank you for your kindness.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is currently in theaters.
You can read our review of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 here.