Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538629
L O C AT I O N M A N A G E R S G U I L D I N T E R N AT I O N A L I 1 2 t h A N N U A L L M G I A W A R D S 1 3 story, Costner built the entire fictional town of Harmonville from scratch on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation Reserve— along with a road to access the remote location and a massive water tank and underground pipe system to create a real flood with practical effects. The ambitious project is considered one of the finest modern Western films and cemented Costner's reputation as a creator willing to move any logistical mountain for the most authentic backdrop. Costner's compass continues to point firmly west, spurring a cowboy revival on the small screen with his contributions to the Yellowstone series as both star and executive producer over five seasons, and on the big screen with his sprawling passion project Horizon: American Saga, a serialized homage to the frontier mythos almost 20 years in the making. As its star, producer, writer and director, Costner holds the heartbeat of the project—personally scouting sun-scorched locations across Utah that evoke both the beauty and brutality of expansion-era America and reinforce its grand meditation on hope, hardship, and the cost of Manifest Destiny. "He chose Southern Utah for Horizon due to its stunning beauty and historical significance, even though it presented some logistical challenges," explains LM Nancy Haecker/LMGI. Supervising location manager Andrew Hodge/LMGI agrees, "I have had the pleasure of working with Kevin Costner and his Horizon: An American Saga series for a number of years now. The show has been hard both physically and mentally for the crew, but he has shown the utmost respect for the properties we have been able to film on." Horizon stands as proof that authenticity still resonates, and the land still has stories to tell. He has established the standard for fostering trust and goodwill among host communities whose real-life histories are integral to his stories and embraced the expansive narrative power of the natural stage. "Kevin Costner has walked where no man has ever walked, because we have to shoot things that have never been shot at any angle, any shape or any form," says Emmy-nominated production designer Derek Hill, a longtime friend and colleague. "He spends the time. He's directing, acting, writing and editing during the week, and then on Saturday and For his passion and commitment to telling stories on location and his understanding of how a sense of place deepens the narrative and propels the action, the LMGI is deeply proud to honor him with the 2025 Eva Monley Award. Sunday, he's figuring out what he's shooting the next week. The work that he puts in and the time he puts in is magnificent." Hill, who met Costner working on JFK in 1991 and went on to collaborate on Tin Cup, The Postman, Hatfields & McCoys, and Horizon says Costner is a creative partner deeply invested in guiding a unified story idea through every phase of the moviemaking process—from actors to set builders. "He's very conscious of the crew," Hill says. "We had storms that came up in Utah and Kevin's holding the tent down from blowing away. And what he gives to the actors and their understanding of how he wants the scene to play out is amazing." Hill lauds the precision and clarity of Costner's vision that he witnessed during intensive scouts across virgin landscapes for Horizon. "We're a year away from some of these shots and we're standing in the middle of nowhere and Kevin says, 'The river will be over here, and that house will be up there on that hill. And then we're going to pan and the sun's going to be at this angle and the river's flowing.'" The multi-hyphenate creator continues to blaze trails in cultural and environmental stewardship as his life, work and activism are closely intertwined. Costner was a key partner behind the development of water treatment technology used in the cleanup of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In his 2025 docuseries Yellowstone to Yosemite, he highlights the importance of preserving America's natural spaces by tracing the history of the national park system and Yosemite's original Ahwahneechee tribe. In development is the docuseries Onward, which focuses on the traditions, culture and experiences of America's First Nations. In championing real-world locations with cinematic reverence and community spirit, Costner hasn't just shaped a genre—he's reshaped the industry conversation around how stories should be told. From Durango to Moab to the Cascades, he invites viewers to consider not just who characters are, but where they are and why. The terrain is more than a detail—it holds destiny itself. The Location Managers Guild International proudly presents the Eva Monley Award to Kevin Costner for anchoring his work in emotionally resonant, physically rugged and mythically charged places, inviting us to experience that destiny across the vast landscape of the human spirit and the American West.