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On the DVD release, a deleted scene called "Mose's Story". This is only a rough cut, and it reveals that in some scenes, the beautiful sky and clouds were chroma keyed into the shot. In this rough edit, no attempt has been made to track the sky with the camera moves, and the effect is obvious.
Originally, Touchstone Pictures had Kevin Costner top-billed over Robert Duvall, but Costner asked the studio to top-bill Duvall instead.
Kevin Costner really loved the "country's fillin' up" line. In the 1880s, the U.S. population had grown to over fifty million people.
As revealed during his appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show (2013), Sir Anthony Hopkins wrote fan letters to Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall after watching the movie, complimenting them both on their performances.