Kevin Costner revives Dances With Wolves with a restored director’s cut set for a high-profile premiere

If you feel like your bum can handle it, Kevin Costner is rolling out a director's cut of Dances With Wolves that’s pushing the very limits of how long a Western should be. While the fate of his Horizon: An American Saga sequel is still anyone’s guess (and getting less likely by the day), Costner has found time to prep a nearly four-hour epic version of the film that kicked off his career as a big deal behind the camera. And if you fancy a cinema experience with about as much elbow room as you’d find at Glastonbury, this one gets its first showing on the absolutely massive Piazza Grande screen at this year’s Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, 7 August.

What exactly is in this so-called director’s cut?

Dances With Wolves (1990) is the one where Costner plays a U.S. Army lieutenant, marooned on the far end of nowhere during the American Civil War, who goes on to question his own mission after coming into contact with the Sioux. Alongside Costner, you get Mary McDonnell as Stands With a Fist, and then Graham Greene — always superb — as Kicking Bird.

The big headline here is that this new version runs “almost four hours,” reportedly more than 50 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut. That extra footage hasn’t exactly been locked in a vault — most of it turned up before as the ‘extended edition’ for TV and home video. But what’s new this time round is the label. It’s being advertised for the festival as a 'director’s cut', a title that’s never actually been used for previous versions. So maybe Costner’s had another tinker or two with the run-time, or maybe it’s a rebrand. No one’s really going on the record to make it clear if this is simply the old extended cut or something he’s genuinely gone back and re-worked.

A few technical details, if that’s your bag: the version showing in Locarno is a full restoration, done by Swiss outfit Cinegrell in partnership with the festival’s own heritage programme. International sales are being handled by K5 International (again, just in case you’re looking to buy your own 35mm print for the living room).

'Costner’s western epic, which won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, helped redefine the western at the turn of the 1990s and drew global attention to the historical plight of Indigenous peoples on the American continent,' said the Locarno Film Festival in a statement.

Meanwhile, back on the Horizon...

You might recall Costner’s name in the headlines recently for another Western, Horizon: An American Saga. Unfortunately, part one was a big flop, pulling in just $29 million at the box office against a rumoured budget of at least $50 million – and that’s not counting marketing costs. All the while, Costner was out doing the press rounds, but much of the media was more interested in probing why he’d abruptly left Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone drama.

• The second chapter of Horizon was set for August 2024, but didn’t materialise. No prizes for guessing why.
• According to reporting (and the ever-blunt Chris Bumbray at JoBlo), Warner Bros. only acted as distributor and weren’t paying to promote the sequel. It’s rumoured Costner himself pulled the release, hoping the film might pick up followers via streaming first, which would justify a proper cinema run.
• Nobody is willing to stick their neck out and say if or when Horizon: Chapter 2 will actually land. For now, it looks well and truly up in the air.

If you’re still a fan of Costner’s Western work, for now you’ll have to make do with the extended Dances With Wolves at Locarno on 7 August.