Elliott Lester returns to the director’s chair with a fresh take on the western genre The ticket. After making his feature directorial debut with 2006’s Love is the medicineLester would find his breakout work in the Jason Statham-led Flash In 2011, quickly followed it with the acclaimed drama with David Oyelowo Nightingale In 2014. Lester returned to the director’s chair for two back-to-back 2017 releases with the psychological thriller sleep walker and true-story-based drama from Arnold Schwarzenegger AftermathAlthough would go on hiatus until his new film.
The ticket Serves as an adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel of the same name centers on Jack, a devout Christian whose quiet life is thrown into turmoil when his sister, Lula, is taken by the brutal bandit, Cat Neck Bill. Jack leaves his home in search of Lula across a snowy border, crossing paths with reluctant bounty hunter Reginald Jones, his business partner Eustace Howard and Jimmy Sue, a woman forced into prostitution. With the promise of a bounty of $10,000 for Cutthroat Bill and a determination to get Lula back, the group embarks on an eye-opening journey.
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Peter Dinklage leads the ensemble Ticket Cast as Reginald alongside Levon Hawke as Jack, Gbenga Akinnagbe as Eustace, Leslie Grace as Jimmy Sue, YellowjacketsJuliette Lewis as Cutthroat Bill, Esmé Creed-Miles as Lula, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, Arliss Howard, Macon Blair and Ned Dennehy. The movie also serves as a passion project for Dinklage, who has been attached to the project since 2014 and is also a producer on the western thriller.
In honor of the film’s release, Screen Rant Interviewed director/producer Elliott Lester to discuss The ticketThe changes he made to Lansdale’s novel, and how he got approval from the author, his working relationship with Dinklage, and the challenge of shooting on location for the Western thriller.
Lansdale was “So wonderful“In allowing changes to The ticket
Screen Rating: The ticket is such a fun movie, but also such an interesting take on the western genre. Of course, it is the source material of Joe R. Lansdale, so I’d love to hear what it was about the book and about Chris’ writing that drew you to want to get in the director’s chair for this.
Elliott Lester: Well, the book is phenomenal. It’s a true road movie, very much in the vein of The Searchers, which are films I’ve always been curious about. Chris Kelly is a playwright, and he did a really wonderful job interpreting the text. I changed a lot of the basics of the book. I made Cut Throat Bill a woman, and what I found was that Joe was very open to the changes. Because, look, of course people respect the book, I wanted to be respectful of the book, but I’m also making a film. He was wonderful, so I went ahead and started shifting things around to make this version of The Ticket.
Lester knew Lewis’ casting was “The right way to go“For cut throat bill
I really love that you went for a flip with Bill being a woman, and Juliette is just incredible in the film, it’s one of my favorite performances of hers yet. I would love to hear about the search for the perfect person to play Bill for this film.
Elliott Lester: So, I knew her manager, and I gave her manager the script, and a week later, I was in front of Juliette Lewis. She read it so quickly, and then was like, “Let’s get on a zoom.” And this zoom, I could tell from the beginning that it was the right way to go. We wanted to make a punk rock western. I wanted to use all her gifts as an actor, as a singer, as someone who is a maverick, someone who is fearless, has no ego.
When you develop a character like that, the first thing you do is find that voice. I remember, one day, I was sitting at home, and suddenly, this video comes with Juliette Lewis doing the voice of Cut throat Bill, and I just got chills. From there on it just got better and better. It was a phenomenal collaboration.
thought was “Fantastic“As a producer and a star for The ticket
I also love Peter Dinklage in this film. I love that he kind of has this dark sense of humor throughout the film, even when he gets into action. What was it like to get him for the role and, as with Juliette, collaborate to find the character?
Elliott Lester: It was his film from the beginning. He had the movie for 11 years, and was a producer of it, so we chose each other in terms of collaboration. As a producer, he is fantastic. He picks up the phone, he makes the calls, he goes through, he will make written notes, he has input. Probably one of the best experiences I’ve had with an actor.
Performatively, it’s Peter Dinklage. You point him in one direction, it’s great. Give him a little adjustment. He completely embraced the role, and you could see he was having a good time, and he wasn’t challenging me at all. He let me lead in the way we needed to and every night we used to have a glass of wine and eat a piece of muz. That’s how it was.
LeicesterDidn’t sit the whole time“Shooting due to the cold weather
I’d love to hear about filming on location for this one, because the practical sets, the shooting in the woods, are all incredible to see on screen. What was it like for you, as a director, you know, putting all that together and actually filming that?
Elliot Lester: It was -35 degrees, it was the most brutal wind. I didn’t sit through the whole film. I surprised the crew in Calgary that they are literally like mountain goats. I think it was, at times, really difficult for the actors, because nothing can prepare you for that level of cold. They made it through. We try to make everyone as comfortable as we can, but there is no denying that you are free there. In terms of preparation, I packed a lot of woolly socks and drank a lot of soup. [Laughs]
Lester avoided a few western genre and period piece tropes
I’d also like to talk about the tone of the movie, because you said a few minutes ago, it’s a punk rock western, and that’s something I’ve always loved about Joe R. Lansdale and Keith Lansdale’s projects. They are in the weird western genre where they have their own unique tone and settings. I’d love to hear about working with Chris, and also your own vision, to find that specific tone to set this film apart from traditional Westerns.
Elliott Lester: I didn’t want to orient it too closely to what you would expect. As you know, the costumes are a little different, the feeling is quite different. An audience will forgive you if you take a shape, like the West, and you just shift it a little to the right or to the left, because you understand the framework. I think my approach was like, “If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it my way. You see yourself as an artist, and that’s how I’m going to interpret it.” You saw Leslie Grace has a big, giant orange afro. There is one very specific thing that I wanted to point out, that at no time in the film do you ever hear the N word, you never hear it. You do it because we have heard enough of it, and I wanted it to be a pure experience, and never have the audience of the word.
Lester came out of an Oscar-winning movie by Leonardo DiCaprio The ticketS look
I’d love to hear about working with Guillermo Garza to find the actual visual look of the film, because again it’s such a unique layered palette and style.
Elliott Lester: I chose Guillermo because he’s a very good, naturalistic cinematographer, and we decided to go to Calgary. One of the main reasons, because it’s a part of Canada that is heavily influenced by the Southwest, the light never gets higher than 10 or 11 o’clock there. So, you always have soft light. The majority of the film takes place outside, and they shot The Revenant there, and the movie is undeniable. So, we’re like, “Well, how are we going to get this?” Because we didn’t have time, we didn’t have the revenant money, but we could have the youth. So that was the decision.
Lester enjoyed getting to “Introducing the world to new actors“Like Levon Hawke
I would also like to hear about casting Levon Hawke, because he does such a great job in this central role as the brother trying to find his sister and save her before it’s too late, but also being transformed by learning about the world. What was it like finding him to actually play this role?
Elliott Lester: He’s only been acting for six months, and Peter has known him his whole life. I met him, and there is this thing as a director that you should do, which is an obligation to bring new voices, to introduce the world to new actors. I did that a few times, with David Oyelowo and Lewis Pullman and people like that. And I felt that this was kismet. I said, “This is an opportunity for us to meet Levon on his ascent.” And as you know, he comes out twice in Blink, and he has so many things. He is a phenomenal actor and very, very humble, very easy to direct.
So, being such a new, fresh actor, what was the big inspiration you gave him to take the character and make it his own?
Elliot Lester: Well, we shaped it together. What I would do is, I would basically say, “Make every mistake you want to make in rehearsal.” And we would make every mistake, and then let him not be afraid of taking the mistakes and being open to shape things. We would find the voice together, which is really, really important. This is the first thing you do.
And then, again, just being open. He would come over, we worked through scenes, and then he would tell me what he thought, and usually his ideas were great, and I would implement them. Just let the artists express themselves, because I don’t like someone sitting on my shoulder telling me what to do, and neither do the actors. You just guide them, and he was very open and willing to be guided.
About The ticket
When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliet Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex- Slave and a pit-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill which leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” known as…the Thicket.
A film about revenge, justice and unlikely companionship, THE THICKET also stars Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna), Levon Hawke (Blink Twice), Macon Blair (I Care A Lot), Andrew Schulz (You People), James Hetfield (Metallica) ), David Midthunder (On Sacred Ground), with Arliss Howard (Mank), with Leslie Grace (In the Heights), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Old Man).
Stay tuned for our others Ticket Interview with:
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Peter Dinklage & Juliette Lewis
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Levon Hawke, Leslie Grace & Gbenga Akinnagbe
The ticket is now in theaters and will make its VOD debut on September 24th.
Source: Screen Rant Plus