In Kevin Costner’s case, it appears his love for the Civil War period runs in his household genes.
The actor, producer and director, whose new movie, “Horizon: An American Saga,” comes out June 28, is a descendent of a Civil War soldier, John F. Tedrick, Ancestry completely reveals to TODAY.com.
The family tree firm discovered that Costner is related to a Union soldier who survived Andersonville Prison, the most important and deadliest Confederate jail through the Civil War. Tedrick is Costner’s second great-grandfather.
“We wanted to try and find a story in Kevin Costner’s tree to see if he had any real-life connections to the film that he was creating, so it’s almost like art imitates life,” Lisa Elzey, an Ancestry senior household historian shares with TODAY.com.
Andersonville, notorious for its harsh circumstances, held 45,000 troopers through the Civil War, with about 13,000 dying from illness, malnutrition and overcrowding, in accordance to the National Park Service official website.
Elzey says the jail’s commandant was later discovered responsible and executed for struggle crimes concerning the therapy of the troopers.
“The fact that John survived that horrific place for a year and then was later released toward the end of the war is amazing,” Elzey says. “It’s an incredible tribute to Kevin Costner’s family resilience.”
Costner’s new movie is over 30 years within the making, a venture he described to TODAY on June 17 as “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“When you go to the movies and it’s dark and it opens up, you need something magical to happen,” Costner stated. “And when I read this, I started to see things I have not seen in Westerns before in the scope and reach and the humanity and the brutality and the ultimate clash between cultures, and I thought, well, that’s what I want to put forth.”
Set within the American West through the Civil War, the movie “explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won — and lost — through the blood, sweat and tears of many,” in accordance to a synopsis from Warner Bros.
FA/Warner Bros / Alamy Stock Photo
“To learn that he has a connection to those things that are really important to him — obviously he’s making films about them — I think is incredible and really shows off the power of ancestry and finding these stories,” Elzey stated.
Ancestry uncovered Civil War information from different members of the “Horizon: American Saga” solid as effectively, together with Jena Malone, Danny Huston and Luke Wilson.