A 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 the film’s two leads, Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington, about the representation of women during this era of history, crafting a leader unaware of whats to come, and their immediate unbreakable chemistry.

Jillian Chilingerian: Watching this movie, I was blown away by your chemistry and the magnetic energy within this sprawling landscape. I want to start first with Sienna because one of the most unique aspects of it is the representation of women during this period of American history and in a very male-dominated genre of the Western. What did it mean to you to take on the role of Frances, she’s so resilient, and she’s so strong, and she’s very protective of her daughter.
Sienna Miller: I mean, well, first of all, a story about the settlement of the American West is not a true story, unless it includes the role of women who were essential. None of this could have happened without them. I’d always dreamt of being in a Western, but I’d imagine myself hanging out at some saloon bar door, and to have a well-rounded, well-considered resilient, brave, courageous female character within the landscape of a Western was so appealing, she’s so resourceful. There’s a scene where she comes up on the spot with a method to save her and her daughter’s life. I read that scene, and I was like, I have to do this. I have to play that scene.

Jillian Chilingerian: I got very claustrophobic watching that. I could not imagine having to do so, I felt it through the screen. How many times did you shoot that sequence?
Sienna Miller: So it was broken up, there was a latch to climb into that was one sequence and then the tunnel was a good few hours, quite a long time. I think we did two days of it and then there was the pulling-out moment, which was, which was an afternoon. We were essentially buried alive and we weren’t in a soundstage.
Sam Worthington: It was just pouring buckets on her head, buckets of dirt and you’re standing around watching your fellow actors being covered.
Sienna Miller: My daughter in the film was underneath me and I remember using my body and skirts to shield her, which felt again, very in keeping get her out quick.

Jillian Chilingerian: That sounds very daunting. Sam, we have seen you before as a leader as we have definitely seen you, and here with Trent, he is stepping up in a world where he’s not so sure of himself. Out of all that a lot of the characters we see he has a moral compass and shields his feelings where he’s not clear on communicating. So I wanted to talk about being that type of leader within the very complex dynamic of this period of American history.
Sam Worthington: That’s the interesting thing. If you look at Kevin Costner’s characters, they all have very strong moral compasses or ethics that they live by, The Bodyguard has certain rules, and Bull Durham says the speech of what he lives by and then you look at Jim Garrison, they’re characters that he’s created in his career, very strong, definite men. He said that to me Trent is like those characters. My idea was, well, how do we kind of mix that up? How do we make it a bit more complex? I like this idea of a character that didn’t know what he’s doing that he doesn’t know why he’s there. So two things can conflict, the character doesn’t understand the frontier war, he would much rather be in a war that he understands like the Civil War or he doesn’t understand the role of soldiers in the settlement. That gave me a reason to be stepping into the unknown too, because he doesn’t know what the path going forward is and then he’s searching for something. He might find something in someone that he pulled from the dirt. You might find just the level of compassion and maybe that’s what he’s searching for a level of.
Jillian Chilingerian: It’s so interesting that you say that because it’s at that time in history that is very unprecedented. We see all these leaders who don’t exactly know the answers, but they have all these people relying on them and how do you manage that without showing weaknesses?
Sam Worthington: It’s also how you mix up the romantic notion so it doesn’t become a cliche romance. For me, it was you’re playing characters that, obviously are the romantic leads. So how do you make that not cheesy? How do you make it authentic when people don’t understand why they yearn for someone else? It’s just a feeling and I think if this is about characters that are trying to find settlement, they’re not only trying to find settlement in the land, they’re trying to find it emotionally, too. I think that’s what I navigated towards.

Jillian Chilingerian: I love the dynamic between both of you, I want you both to do a rom com some point, because your chemistry.
Sam Worthington: Oh yes!
Sienna Miller: Yes let’s do it!
Jillian Chilingerian: I had to look up have they been in a movie before? For both Frances and Trent, it’s very nonverbal, the moment when he hands his jacket, and then she gives it back to him and he’s thinking about it. How did you build on that relationship between you two? They’re very different and I am excited that we get more of them in part two.
Sienna Miller: I think the chemistry part of it is you can’t plan and it’s so great if that happens, and it works. A lot of people have responded to that. I think we have a similar way of working and, we got on instantly which helps. The scripts were dense and thoughtful and a lot was there but the chemistry is something you can’t manufacture. I’m excited that people are responding to it.
Sam Worthington: The funny thing as well, you talk offset like we’d never even met until we got on set. We would talk about things and it made me laugh and then we were going to do a scene and I was still sometimes thinking about those things. Movie making is holding on to secrets or releasing secrets, you’re playing in that world, and that maybe is what gives it the first one that you’re going after. But it’s trust, you want to trust your fellow actor and Sienna is great to work with. I completely trusted it from the moment they call to action. It’s very rare to come across.
Sienna Miller: Likewise.

Jillian Chilingerian: Knowing the story is going to be continued between these two are there things that you think are going to happen down the road with where their journey as like a romance goes or is it just playing it out without knowing?
Sienna Miller: I think it would be dangerous to flash far too far forward, you have to try and be as present as possible because that’s the experience of the character. So you don’t want to play the ending ever. It’s sometimes a bit of a pitfall if you read a script and you don’t know where it’s heading. You want to tease things before but it’s something I try to consciously avoid, play the scene and the moment as much as possible.
Sam Worthington: Yeah, I envy those directors that only give their actors certain scenes. The world where you don’t see where the character goes, you just exist. It’s because yeah, you’re right, you’re always trying not to endgame yourself.
Sienna Miller: That makes sense. Why do people not do that?

Jillian Chilingerian: Thank you both so much for this time again, your dynamic in this movie IS incredible so I was very excited to learn more about your characters from your perspectives. The representation of women that’s been so needed within these stories was beautiful to watch.
Sienna Miller & Sam Worthington: Thank you for your time too!

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