The Old West is not entirely filled with savage killers, as seen in The ticket. The movie serves as an adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s 2013 novel of the same name has spent the last decade in development with Peter Dinklage as both star and producer. The movie revolves around a young man who seeks the help of a bounty hunter and his business partner to track down a ruthless bandit who kidnapped his sister, though learns the harsh nature of the frontier along the way.
Levon Hawke, son of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke and brother of Stranger thingsMaya Hawke, stars in The ticket Like Jack, the devout Christian young man whose sister, Lula, has been kidnapped. On his journey, he meets Dinklage’s Reginald Jones and Eustace Howard, brought to life by Gbenga Akinnagbe, known for his roles in the likes of The ruler and Jeff Bridges The old man. Jack also grows close to Jimmy Sue, played by in the heights‘ Leslie Grace, a street-smart woman forced into prostitution whom he helps escape, though is also unprepared for the dangers ahead.
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Along with Hawke, Dinklage, Akinnagbe and Grace, the ensemble Ticket throw incl YellowjacketsJuliette Lewis as Cut Throat Bill, the bandit the group hunts, Esmé Creed-Miles as Lula, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, Arliss Howard, Macon Blair and Ned Dennehy. originates from Aftermaths Elliott Lester and playwright Chris Kelley, the movie proves to be worth the decade-long development thanks to its captivating characters, superb direction and pulse-pounding storyline.
Before the release of the movie, Screen Rant Interview stars Levon Hawke, Leslie Grace and Gbenga Akinnagbe to discuss The ticketTheir approach to their stereotype-breaking characters, building dynamics between one another, and the challenge of shooting on location for the film.
The ticketThe main characters are not typical archetypes of the Western genre
I was just blown away by what you all delivered The ticketIt’s such a great film. I’ll start with Levon, then Leslie and Gbenga. What was it about the script and your characters that really drew you to want to be a part of this project?
Levon Hawke: Well, what I found so special about working on this one is that I think we had this idea that everyone in the West was tough as nails and was extremely vicious. What really excited me about this character is he’s more sensitive, and he’s a pacifist, and he doesn’t want to hurt people. I think that a lot of men in that era, when we picture John Wayne, their masculinity goes in tandem with their violence. What was really exciting for me was trying to find my version of a Western hero that didn’t rely on hurting other people.
Leslie Grace: I would say, similarly, I was really drawn to the character of Jimmy Sue, because she’s not a female archetype that you usually see in the Western world. She holds herself. There are so many, in all the letters in the script, contradictions. We’re all looking to preserve a little bit of morality while just trying to survive and find as much companionship as we can along the way. But things can change along the way, so all of that, plus a western in the snow, was like, “Wow, that sounds really cool.” Until we were frozen to death.
Gbenga Akinnagbe: It was interesting because we had all the wanderers, especially Eustace and Jones, finding each other. It is in a country that is still somewhat wild and develops and finds itself and its laws, and then areas where there are no laws. You just have to make your way. Eustace and Jones are these two kind of outcasts who, again, find each other, who are just, like, “We can work together to survive. I get you, you get me. It’s a partnership that seems to make sense.” . and we bury people.”
Hawke drew from his own family life to inform his performance
Levon, I will turn to you next. So much of your character’s journey is rooted in trying to save your sister from Cut Throat Bill. Having a sister in real life, how much did you draw from your own familial experience to really influence your performance of trying to get Lula back?
Levon Hawke: I would say that actually the biggest basis of my character was, I think at the bottom of everything, is his love for Lula, his sister. I actually have four sisters, believe it or not. I have four other sisters, three of them are younger and one older. They are all my best friends in the world. But the whole story, I know ground in myself. I am a person who usually likes to play by imagining things from my past, situations that I have actually been in. Gbenga, Leslie and I were doing this one scene which was really difficult. We have to torture this guy.
It was so brutal where I was really struggling to imagine myself doing such cruelty to another person, and the only way I could get through it and find some justification was really through my sister’s imagination. If I really pictured my sister being taken by someone like Juliette’s character in the movie, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do. I think that this is when the good morals of a character like Jack must simply crumble, is when one thing that he considers so important is that non-violence must be opposed to the violent world that he is in. And this is, I think, the most interesting territory. of mine in that character.
Gbenga Akinnagbe: It’s funny, I think if you have a brother, it can’t be that hard to imagine torturing someone else. [Laughs]
Grace walked a fine line between “sensitivity“&”Feminine Strength”
Leslie, I will turn to you next. You talked about wanting to avoid making Jimmy Sue a female archetype, and I love how much power she has, but also, in the torture scene, how much compassion she has. What is it like trying to walk the balance of ensuring she is not a weak woman in the West, but that she is someone who will still go to the extreme?
Leslie Grace: I think at times I felt—and Levon and I had a lot of conversations before we started shooting, we personally struggled with where is the sensitivity and empathy for other equally masculine or feminine strength. And what of it is archetypal and not on the surface level, and what of it is actually, like, “No, this is really something that is just from this time and would be true, and is something that you would have to deal with At this time?” So, in the ways that I would walk the line, I would just try to be as present as possible.
It sounds super cliché, but I would just try to be as present as possible and listen. Especially for that scene, I was out of the room for a lot of the time, then Jimmy Sue ends up coming in once a lot has happened. But I’ve been hearing the whole time, and even could only listen – as I remember I didn’t want to move. Obviously, I wasn’t in the shot, but I remember not wanting to move from that room, because I wanted to hear what was going on, like Jimmy Sue would be, in that room, and it really allowed me to go into that atmosphere. In a really specific way.
Dinklage’sAffable” personality made it easy for Akinnagbe to connect with him
Gbenga, I will continue to return to you. We made jokes about torturing someone to save a brother, but you and Peter Dinklage have such a wonderful brotherly love throughout the film, and so much of his journey is trying to break down those walls and have that kind of compassion for other people. What was it like to find the dynamic in the relationship with him during filming?
Gbenga Akinnagbe: It was super easy to hit it off with him because he’s such a nice, open actor and guy. We were able to explore their connection, and how to get that on screen, both in text and subtext, because not everything needs to be said, just in the moment. Peter is really about crafting the moments, he doesn’t have to say it, he believes. He believes that you do not always have to say everything, and not talk down to the audience, and I am of the same opinion, so we have fun finding ways to get their relationship, either through the text or subtext.
Jack and Jimmy Sue’s relationship is as much about survival as love
Levon and Leslie, I wanted to get back to you. So much of this movie is also about the connection between your characters, and I’d love to hear about what it was like for the two of you to find that dynamic and relate to each other as two people who are compassionate and kind-hearted. In what can be a very wild world.
Levon Hawke: I really think what was so special about that dynamic is that it’s these two people who really lead with kindness in a world that’s so unaccepting of people who do that, so I think that’s really what makes them fall for each other. And then, what’s beautiful, I found, and what we really felt from the moment we first connected was, at the end of the day, they are allies.
They are friends who want the best for each other, and that is what they both need, and that is what they are there to offer. Jack isn’t really there to fall in love, he’s there to get his sister back, and that’s what he does. And she recognizes that, and has some admiration for someone with such a genuine good feeling, and then it just builds everything together with so much friendship. That was really what struck me.
Leslie Grace: Yes, I agree with that. And just to add, I think I can just talk through some of the things that are more than just skin deep that I feel like we miss when we get to see a female-male relationship on screen and a young female- Male relationship on screen. Especially at the time, it was really nice to have the opportunity to do that, and we both had very, very unique ideas about how to portray the strengths of each of the characters in new ways, and stretch the imagination a little bit on that. . Little.
So, it’s really cool to have their relationship based on what makes sense for the story, is they have a mission. It’s to survive, and for Jack, especially, it’s to survive so they can find his sister, and they have each other’s backs. If they can find love in the process, that’s beautiful. It’s a very lonely world. But yes, their priority is to survive, and survive together, and keep each other alive.
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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Director Elliott Lester
The ticket is now in theaters and will make its VOD debut on September 24th.
Source: Screen Rant Plus