Kevin Costner ensured women "dominate" his new Western as he believes they built the American frontier

He said at the premiere of his movie on Sunday (19.05.24) about why the movie focuses on females: "It's almost impossible to imagine a West without women, isn't it? The West doesn't carry on without women.

"And they understand that they were basically trying to keep their families clean and fed, and women were worked to death.

"And if they lost their man, there's every opportunity that their life could become something unimaginable, bad.

"That's why Sienna's character moves so quickly to bring a man into her life, because she knows how vulnerable she could be, and she doesn't care about her reputation to do it.

"And we would taboo that now: 'That's too quick, she's moved too quick.'

"I am not looking for kudos because women are in it. For me, they're not in it, they actually dominate the movie, to be honest.

"Every one of those women dominate when they're on the screen."

Earlier this month, Kevin vowed to bring only the female actors from his new film as his VIP guests to its world premiere at Cannes.

He told People: "I'm taking seven of the women that are in the movie with me.

"For Cannes, I really want to take these women who made a huge contribution to this movie."

The 'Dances with Wolves' creator directed, co-wrote and stars in the new film, which features a string of overlapping stories of 19th century settlers as they clash with Indigenous people and each other.

Kevin added to People about how the saga portrays hardships females faced during the time: "Women are the reason the country goes forward. They were taken often against their own wishes.

"They were taken advantage of and they were resilient. I couldn't tell the story unless it revolved around them."

Sienna appeared on the red carpet at Cannes alongside Kevin and her other 'Horizon' co-stars on Sunday (19.05.24) with her boyfriend Oli Green, 27, and 11-year-old lookalike daughter Marlowe.