Opening in theaters on September 18th is the new historical drama ‘The Weight‘, which was directed by Padraic McKinley, and stars Ethan Hawke (‘Training Day‘), Russell Crowe (‘Gladiator‘), and Julia Jones (‘Wind River‘).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ethan Hawke and Julia Jones about their work on ‘The Weight’, Hawke’s first reaction to his character, Jones’ experience working with Hawke, and shooting the movie’s most difficult scene.
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Moviefone: To begin with, Ethan, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and did you recognize right away that this would be an interesting character for you to explore on screen?
Ethan Hawke: You know, from the second I saw the title, ‘The Weight’, it was extremely interesting. I don’t know why, I liked the title and I was interested. Then I realized how old-fashioned, in the best sense of the word, there’s something stoic about the film and there’s something rigorous about the film and simple. I think cinema loves a simple story. It reminded me of some old Jack London short stories or Rudyard Kipling or something like that. I was drawn to its toughness, and particularly, I really liked this director (Padraic McKinley). I believed in him, his ideas, the fact that he wanted Julia, he wanted Russell, and he saw who he wanted in these parts in the world building. I was like, “Oh wow, we’re going to make a good film.”
MF: Julia, can you talk about the unlikely connection Anna makes with Murphy on this journey and creating that on screen with Ethan?
Julia Jones: It was really fluid. We had a couple conversations before we started filming that I thought were really helpful, but they were not definitive. It was just like, “Okay, generally this is kind of what it is.” It was basically two people who, well, from Anna’s perspective, their relationship is really about trust and it’s a deeper connection than anything romantic or than friends or anything. It is about trusting somebody enough with your life. You’re trusting each other with your life. That’s ultimately what it comes down to. Then when we filmed it, nobody knew it was going to happen. Nobody knew what any scene was going to be. It just came to life as we were doing it, which was a complete joy with Ethan and Padraic and the rest of the cast. It’s a dream job.
MF: Finally, Ethan, can you talk about the challenges of shooting the bridge sequences?
EH: Those things are so difficult, but one of the things that made our director such a good leader is that his father was a film editor. He was an assistant editor when he was in high school. He grew up studying movies. He’s the best film editor. That’s how we met. He edited a show I did, ‘The Good Lord Bird‘, and he’s the best editor I’d ever seen. The way that he thinks about storytelling, the way that he watches other movies. Those kinds of sequences are built in the editing. (Martin) Scorsese says it better than anybody about film is stealing from stage and it’s stealing from literature, but there’s one part of film that’s a unique art form to cinema, which is editing, the juxtaposition of images over and over again and how that changes the story. The theater doesn’t have editing. It’s a very powerful tool, and Padraic understands it so intimately that he knows the math of, “Now I’m going wide. Now I’m going close. Now I need you to do this moment.” Julia says this often, because he’s so confident about that, then he’s free to say, “What ideas do you have?” Because he knows what he needs to tell the story. Now he’s like, “Is there something better, something I didn’t think of?” He’s not making you fill out a shot list. He knows what he needs in his spine. So, then you’re able to say, “Hey, would it be cool if this happened or cool if this happened?” Then you can play and you feel confident when you’re driving home at night and you’ve pulled 15 muscles and your rib cage is covered with bruises. You feel like, “Oh, that was in service of something. We got a great sequence.”
What is the plot of ‘The Weight’?
In Oregon in 1933, Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe) tempts him with early release if he smuggles gold through deadly wilderness, but betrayal festers within the crew, and Murphy questions how far he’ll go to see his child again.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Weight’?
- Ethan Hawke as Samuel Murphy
- Russell Crowe as Warden Clancy
- Julia Jones as Anna
- Austin Amelio as Rankin
- Avi Nash as Singh
- Lucas Lynggaad Tonnesen as Olson
- George Burgess as Letender
- Cameron Brady as The Man
- Avy Berry as Penny Murphy
- Alec Newman as Taggert
- Sam Hazeldine as Amis
- Jeffrey Lee Hallman as Big
- Dylan Page as Mrs. Akers
- Peter Lewys Preston as Ed Akers
- Caspar Steinbeck as Joe Akers
