So rather than give their background, how about what â3:10 To
The film stars Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol and Ben Foster, in a modern take on the classic Western short story by Elmore Leonard. The film was directed by James Mangold (WALK THE LINE) and produced by Cathy Konrad, from a screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt & Derek Haas.
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A little while ago I posted a number of movie clips, so in case you missed them you can click here.
During the short press conference, the two of them talked about the challenges of filming in freezing conditions, location filming, and the special relationship between a man and his horseâ¦.
As always, you can either read the transcript below or download the audio as an MP3 here. And since I wonât be transcribing the other interviews I was able to participate in for the movie, hereâs the links to the audio for Peter Fonda and Ben Foster, writers Michael Brandt/Derek Haas and director James Mangold and producer Cathy Konrad.
â3:10 to
BALE: Morning all, I recognize a number of faces here (to Crowe) Iâve had to do Rescue Dawn just recently.
CROWE: Right.
BALE: Iâm like a regular right now.
Q: Youâve played American roles before, but were you surprised to be asked to be in a western?
BALE: Not for a second, no.
CROWE: No, it didnât surprise me. Iâd spent quite a bit of time with Jim Mangold about six years ago. I didnât realize that he was spending time with me â I was recording an album in the studio at the time, and he was spending time with me because he was prepping Walk the Line. I didnât realize that at the time, but we became conversational friends. So when he sent me the script I read it and I enjoyed the dynamics between the two characters, so thatâs basically decision made, you know.
Q: Russell youâre known as an actor who does a lot of research and preparation for period roles, whatâs the real story of the level of work you put into things like this?
CROWE: Well, I think we should decide not to talk about preparation just this once, because then it just all becomes about the preparation and not about the movie. The thing is, I was working on another movie right up âtil this, and then promoting another film in Europe, so I didnât really do that much preparation, but as you may know I have a working farm, so thereâs a lot of things on this movie thatâs just part of my day to day.
Q: Would it be okay to ask if there was anything from the other western you did, The Quick and the Dead, that also applied here?
CROWE: I had the good fortune of working with a guy called Thell Reed who was an armorer on Quick and the Dead in a period in my life where Iâd never actually touched a handgun, so he utilized that, put a lot of information in my head because he didnât have to get past things that my dad had taught me incorrectly, or my uncles had taught me badly, as he finds with a lot of American actors when he works with period guns. So it was just a matter of taking that same information and refreshing it in my mind and then changing the style of how this particular guy killed people.
Q: Can you guys talk about being in
CROWE: Youâve been silent for awhile Batman - Iâm going to do that all day you know.
BALE: I was kind of guessing that. New Mexico, I donât really â now that I think about it I have no recollections of Santa Fe particularly, but the canyons, being out in the high desert, that was nice; being out, riding your horse, shooting your guns, thatâs a lot of fun.
CROWE: It was really cold.
BALE: It got to be bloody freezing, especially some of the night shoots; it got cold.
CROWE: Terrifyingly cold
BALE: We had the worst winter storm in recorded history came in.
CROWE: And we were surrounded by four and a half feet of snow doing scenes that talk about the drought. It was one of those sort of movie experiences.
BALE: And he (meaning Crowe) was just a real bastard to work with.
CROWE: And Peter Fonda started something that I think SAG should pick up on. One day he actually said that he couldnât act in period costume, on location, below 13 degrees.
BALE: Which is superb, Iâm having that put in my contracts.
CROWE: I reckon SAG should work on it, because I reckon thereâs - like you shouldnât do Shakespeare in a draughty hall in tights below, say, eight degrees, there should be a whole scale.
Q: Christian, you had just come from a very uncomfortable location for this when you were shooting Rescue Dawn, was that more uncomfortable than this one or was this one a little more challenging for you?
BALE: I kind of like movies where I just get to just be dirty and crawling in the mud, Rescue Dawn it was all very primordial stuff, and with this one it was all about wearing the same clothes day after day and getting sweaty and dirty and sun exposure, and itâs meant to be like that; westerns are meant to be dirty, they shouldnât be all nice and clean. And I like getting my hand dirty.
Q: Russell did you like the fact that the bad boy had a conscience?
CROWE: I didnât really read it that way. Heâs just very efficient at surviving whatever situation that heâs in. The end result is an example of that. Obviously that group of men that heâs gathered together, theyâre probably a little dangerous now, so letâs just move on and clean the slate.
Q: Iâm from Equestrian News so I have to ask a horse question
(both actors nay and Crowe hits the desk with his hand like a horse would count with his hoof)
||SPLIT||
Q: How would you explain that special relationship between man and horses?
CROWE: Well Iâm an absolute horse lover. Itâs a very complex and long answer in its full sense, but Iâve always found that even from the time youâre a little kid theyâre just like people, there are some horses that you have a deeper connection with immediately, and you can work on that over time. I found over the years the antithesis of some other peopleâs thought processes, the gentler that you are, and the most constant you are with the horse, the deeper that connection gets. And itâs funny doing these sort of movies, and Iâve done a few with animals, because you get really actually close, because the working relationship is quite intense, 10, 12 hours a day for a number of months, so itâs hard to say goodbye.
Q: He was using the whistle, do you have something in your personal life that you use?
CROWE: Yeah, yeah. It would depend on what the situation was, mainly just a series of mouth clicks actually.
Q: What makes your character the way he is, suddenly killing his friends?
CROWE: As I was saying, he just responds in the situation to whatâs around him in order to survive. So heâs just that kind of animal himself.
Q: What makes him like that?
CROWE: Well, thereâs a history thatâs talked about in the film, whether or not thatâs the complete version of his life story, thatâs a different thing. You can throw out a lot of assumed experiences that an abandoned child might have in the old west, and all of those things will add up to where he is. I think one of the important things â because weâve had no history of Wade being â we donât know his future, we donât know if he gets captured and all that sort of stuff, so I was always taking the attitude that he was actually very successful at what he did, and this is probably the fourth or fifth version of his âgang.â And when they become too proficient, the gang members around him and the things that he taught them, thatâs probably the time to clean the slate and move on and go and get himself another gang. Thereâs a story in The Princess Bride when theyâre talking about the dread pirate robbers changing hands and that would go through my mind in terms of how to explain him.
Q: Can you talk a little more about each other, had you met before and if not, what surprised you about each other?
BALE: No, weâd never met before at all. Whenever people asked me what I was doing next, and I said I was going to be working with Russell, they kind of looked like (oh no), âYouâre going to be in for a tough ride with him.â And itâs absolutely true. (Russell laughs) No, Russell was â I donât mean to talk out of school, but a lot of actors, they sort of complain and winge and do everything to avoid actually getting on with the work, you know, so itâs nice when youâre working with somebody like Russell where you can just get to the point and you can have blunt conversations about the scenes, and it just makes it easy. Heâs obviously, you donât have to be told, heâs a bloody good actor and itâs a pleasure to work with somebody as good as that.
CROWE: Right from the first time we did a reading I could see that he had a sense of humor and was very balanced about what the job is, and all that sort of stuff. Once youâve worn the cape, it must be hard to keep your feet on the ground.
BALE: This ainât going to go away all bloody day!
CROWE: And you can tell thereâs a lot of base jealousy coming from me about the fact that he gets to wear the cape.
BALE: I bought him his own special rubber outfit.
CROWE: Which I appreciate. I appreciate it greatly.
BALE: Youâll be seeing him in the meat district in
CROWE: We found it really easy to get on and when youâre dealing with â I mean, some of the days, we talked about Peter pulling out (off?) at 13 degrees, but actually some of the days were -15 and stuff like that, so itâs really nice to have an easy rapport when youâre trying to do complicated things in rough conditions.
BALE: Even though your jaw canât move because itâs too cold to talk.
CROWE: The thing is it was easy, and the thing I think I said to him on the last night when we were finishing up, I just said to him that heâs all class, on a daily basis, always ready, got great questions, his choices with his weapons, the way he approached the horse riding, itâs all good. From my perspective, to know that the guy that youâre working with has put the effort in, is switched on, is ready to go regardless of the conditions and the hours and all that sort of stuff, just makes you feel like youâre in the right place.
BALE: We were both a number of drinks down the line by that time of course.
CROWE: Which is also a good thing; being able to simply finish a dayâs work and have a regular conversation with a bloke over a beer without it being some big to do, breaking some sort of contemporary taboo or something, we donât do that in
Q: Can you talk about working on Batman right now?
BALE: Russellâs going to be actually in the new Batman movie, which is a big surprise and I want to reveal it to everybody right now!
Q: Are you going to do Justice League after
BALE: No.
CROWE: What about the Green Lantern?
BALE: NO!