For more than 30 years, Kevin Costner has been toiling on Horizon: An American Saga, an epic film series about the American West. His goal, he explained Aug. 18, has been to address themes “relevant to that time period, including the impact of the American Civil War, the relationship between settlers and Native Americans, the challenges faced by European immigrants seeking a better life, and the foundational role played by women of the time” including “the violence and difficult conditions they faced.”
But according to a stand-in on the second movie in his Horizon series, that vision has been deeply compromised. In May, stuntwoman Devyn LaBella filed suit against the actor and the saga’s production companies claiming she was “the victim of a violent, unscripted, unscheduled rape scene” directed by the Oscar winner for the second of four planned Horizon movies while serving as a double for actress Ella Hunt in 2023. In her sexual harassment and hostile workplace environment complaint, as reported by Deadline, Devyn, who’s seeking unspecified damages, alleges she was left with “permanent trauma” she’ll have to “address for years to come.” The May 2 filing took place just one day after Kevin was blindsided by divorce papers from second wife Christine Baumgartner.
Marty Singer, the 70-year-old star’s lawyer, initially called the suit a “shakedown,” per The New York Times. Now, Kevin has gone further, branding Devyn’s claims a “bold-faced lie” in his own court filing. “My belief is that Devyn’s claims were designed, through the use of false statements and sensationalistic language, to damage my reputation,” the Hollywood legend wrote in a lengthy declaration published by Deadline, calling the claims against him “absolutely false.” He alleges Devyn wants to “embarrass” him and hurt the Horizon movies “in order to gain a massive and unjustified payday.” Moreover, having to read about and address her allegations “involving the words ‘rape’ and ‘assault,’” Kevin added, “has been an absolute nightmare.”
A source tells Star the Dances With Wolves star “is fighting these heinous claims with everything he’s got,” adding that the three-time Golden Globe winner “has said from the start that it’s a classic stick-up lawsuit that has zero merit whatsoever.” His lawyer has asked a judge to dismiss Devyn’s suit at a Sept. 18 hearing.
She Said, He Said
According to Devyn, Kevin improvised a scene in which an actor aggressively raked up her skirt and straddled her. In June, she amended her lawsuit to include text messages she exchanged with the film’s intimacy coordinator, Celeste Chaney, a day after the shot was blocked in which she described it as an “abomination” and listed questions about how it was handled before asking, reported by Variety, “Who is gonna take responsibility for the abuse of power, negligence and ignorance on set?” The intimacy coordinator, who wasn’t present during the alleged incident, has backed Devyn, calling the shot a “violent rape scene” that “was unexpectedly sprung on the actors and stunt professionals,” also noting Devyn “did not have the appropriate modesty garments to ensure adequate coverage, safety or protection.”
Kevin maintains that’s not what happened. He says Devyn’s “privacy was fully maintained” — which was confirmed in explosive photos of her and others taken on set that day that he submitted with his filing — during the moments in question. In a special motion to strike Devyn’s complaint, Kevin’s attorney stated that Devyn “was laughing and smiling during the blocking of the shot,” which Kevin clarifies was rehearsed but never filmed, and was only “a buildup and foretelling” of a rape that occurs offscreen and not itself a simulated rape. According to the director, it involved “the simple act of moving the hem of the dress from the ankle to the knee” and an actor swinging his leg over her and ending up “on all fours” to create “a moment of absolute clarity for the audience to absorb what would happen offscreen.”
In addition to his own account, Kevin’s legal team submitted a gushing text Devyn sent to her supervisor nine days later thanking him for “these wonderful weeks!” as well as “the sworn testimony of a dozen respected, veteran film crew members with personal knowledge of the facts at issue.”
Backing Kevin
Two of those have surfaced publicly and support Kevin’s version of events. Wade Allen, the stunt coordinator who hired and supervised Devyn and was there during shot blocking, insisted that “at no point that day did she evidence any distress or discomfort, or any concern about what she had been asked to do,” per Variety, adding that Devyn gave him a thumbs-up before and after the run-through of the scene he said involved “no intimacy, no nudity, no sexual conduct or sexual movement of any kind.”
The other performer in the shot, actor Roger Ivens, also challenged what he called a “false and sensationalist” description of their scene as depicting a violent rape. “It is not what happened,” Roger said. “This was not in any way, shape, or form a simulated sex scene.”
“The truth matters,” Kevin wrote in his declaration, which is why, “even at the high cost of this lawsuit” — both “financial and personal,” he clarified — “I will always speak up to defend myself and my crew against false allegations.” He also countered Devyn’s claim that she suffered career consequences for speaking out and hasn’t been hired by the stunt coordinator since May 2023. It’s “absurd,” he said in his declaration, since filming on Horizon III hasn’t started.
Devyn’s attorney James Vagnini hit back at Kevin, calling his account “continued evidence that one of Hollywood’s most powerful men is trying to skirt accountability for reckless and harmful behavior.” According to her lawyer’s statement which was shared with the celebrity.land, “claims that Devyn’s professional demeanor on set discredits the assault she endured is not only insulting to victims everywhere, but directly disproven by multiple eyewitness accounts and irrefutable evidence from the immediate aftermath of the incident, including phone calls, text messages and a scathing report from the production’s intimacy coordinator. This baseless motion is nothing but a desperate delay tactic from a panicked legal team with no real defense.” The only things damaging Kevin’s reputation, Devyn’s legal team added, “are his own reckless, harmful behavior and the offensive narrative he’s spreading to cover it up.”
More Setbacks
The legal drama isn’t the only issue plaguing Kevin’s Horizon series. He self-funded much of his passion project, investing at least $38 million and even mortgaging some of his property to help finance it, he told GQ. After the first installment, which combined with the second had a reported budget of $100 million, made just $38.7 million at the worldwide box office last summer, the theatrical release of Chapter II was delayed — something Kevin confessed last September during an appearance at the Venice Film Festival, Variety reported, “probably was a reaction” to Chapter I’s underperformance. “It didn’t have overwhelming success.”
With an estimated net worth of $250 million, the Bodyguard star “is still a very wealthy man,” the source tells Star. “But he’s been hit hard with some major financial setbacks in recent times.” His contentious divorce from second wife Christine, 51, the mother of his three youngest kids (Kevin is also dad to four other children from two prior relationships), ended with a judge deciding in 2023 that their prenup would stand. Yet Christine hardly walked away empty-handed, receiving a $1.5 million lump sum and $63K a month in child support. “He’s still sore about that to this day,” adds the source. “And sinking all that money into Horizon — only to see it struggle with audiences — was another hammer blow.”
Horizon’s setbacks, Kevin insisted last year, have only made him want to forge ahead with the planned four-part epic. “Sometimes when things don’t come to us easily, we want to just step away. But there’s something in me that only increases my desire when something is not working,” he said, adding, “When I feel rejection, unlike anybody else, when I open my eyes from my disappointment, my desire is only increased.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source starmagazine.com ’
