Moviefone Editorial

Tag: murder-at-yellowstone-city

  • ‘Frontier Crucible’ Interview: Thomas Jane

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    Opening in theaters and digital on December 5th is the new Western ‘Frontier Crucible‘, which was based on the book ‘Desert Stake-Out’ by author Harry Whittington and directed by Travis Mills (‘The Five’).

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    The film stars Myles Clohessy (‘Blue Bloods’), Mary Stickley (‘Harvest’), Ryan Masson (‘The Last of Us’), Thomas Jane (‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘The Punisher‘), Armie Hammer (‘The Social Network’), and William H. Macy (‘Fargo’).

    Thomas Jane as “‘Mule’ Charlie McKee” in the western/thriller/drama film, 'Frontier Crucible', a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
    Thomas Jane as “‘Mule’ Charlie McKee” in the western/thriller/drama film, ‘Frontier Crucible’, a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Jane about his work on ‘Frontier Crucible’, his first reaction to the screenplay, the challenges of making a Western, his character, working with the cast, and collaborating with director Travis Mills on set.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

    Related Article: Actor Thomas Jane Talks New Western ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’

    Thomas Jane stars in 'Frontier Crucible'.
    Thomas Jane stars in ‘Frontier Crucible’.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the adaption of author Harry Whittington’s novel?

    Thomas Jane: Well, Whittington was known as the “King of the Pulps”, and he wrote in the 1950s and’60s. They called him the “King of Pulps”, because I think he’s got the world record for the greatest number of pulp novels ever written by an author. Out of the hundreds of novels that he wrote about six are good, which is a good record. He’s got six strong novels that are worth anybody’s time who loves the Pulp stuff. One of them is ‘Desert Stakeout’, and the screenplay was adapted by S. Craig Zahler who wrote ‘Bone Tomahawk’, and I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say that. Nobody told me not to say it. But he’s an uncredited writer, and he borrowed heavily from the book, and no surprise, Whittington had a knack for great dialogue and great characters. It was really his thing. Every story that he approached, he didn’t come through the plot, he came through the character. So, for adaptations, it’s perfect, and they’ve adapted a few Harry Whittington novels over the years. This one, you read it and you’re like, “Why wasn’t this done like 30 years ago?” It really sings. So, we had a lot of fun. We had a lot to work with. We had great dialogue.

    MF: I know you have appeared in quite a few Westerns in the past, what do you enjoy about the genre and what are the biggest challenges of making a movie like this?

    TJ: Well, the challenges are always like, we need to make more Westerns, and trying to keep the fan base alive in 2025 is difficult. It’s difficult with all movies, but now, with a good Western, people will watch it. They like it. I produced a Western called ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’, which made it the number one on Netflix. So, if you do a good Western, people will watch it, and there is an audience. It’s just getting a great story. It’s getting people that really know the genre and love the genre. Travis Mills certainly loves the genre, I think he wrote a book where he’s got like 200 Western movies that he reviewed, and now he’s releasing a book on all his Western reviews. So, he’s a real student of the genre. That was fun. It’s always good when your director knows his stuff. I loved that Travis wanted to recreate the way Westerns used to be made in the ’50s and ’60s. This movie has a look that feels like it could have been made in 1965. So that was fun. I’m a fan, in other words. The challenges for an actor are really the positives, the things that I love about Westerns. I love the fact that most Westerns either implicitly or explicitly deal with the civilization of man, and there are laws and are rules, and then the wild West is the lawless land where you must make up these rules. You’re guided by a moral code. Everyone has their own moral code and their own interpretation of the moral code. Like, “Thou shalt not kill”, although that’s negotiable in certain circumstances for some people. That makes it fun.

    (Center) Armie Hammer as “Edmund Fisher” in the western/thriller/drama film, 'Frontier Crucible', a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
    (Center) Armie Hammer as “Edmund Fisher” in the western/thriller/drama film, ‘Frontier Crucible’, a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.

    MF: Can you talk about your character’s gang and creating those relationships with your scene partners, Armie Hammer and Ryan Masson?

    TJ: My character thinks he’s a good guy, and I think 98% of him is a decent man. I think some bad things happen to him, and he lost his way a little bit. But the darkness of his heart is revealed by the company that he keeps. You find that’s true with most people in life. It’s the company that you keep that tells you something about who they are, and who they think they are. So, that’s Armie’s role in the thing. He’s the dark heart of the gang, and we’re constantly having trouble reining him in. It’s a lot of fun. Armie had a lot of fun. He leaned into all of that. I really had a good time working with everybody. Armie’s are an intelligent guy, and a soulful guy. He’s done a lot of work on himself, and it shows, he’s stepped up. People step up or they step down and Armie stepped up. So, I’d worked with the guy again in a heartbeat. I think he’s terrific. Everybody else is young. finding their way. We, as the old pros, tried to help them as best we could.

    MF: I was not familiar with Myles Clohessy or Mary Stickley’s work before seeing this film. What was your experience like working with them on this movie?

    TJ: Myles came from another project (producer) Dallas Sonnier had done, and he certainly looks like a leading man, and he’s learning what that entails. It’s a very different set of rules when you’re the leading man or the leading lady than it is if you’re a supporting character. I like the supporting characters. I’ve gotten a chance to play a lot of leads and I’m grateful for that. But I love the character stuff. It’s what got me into this thing in the first place. Now I’m getting a little older and I’m finding more opportunities to flex those muscles. It gives me a little more freedom. I don’t have the movie that I’m carrying on my back, and I get to have a little more fun.

    (Center Foreground) Director Travis Mills behind the scenes on the western/thriller/drama film, 'Frontier Crucible', a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Gene Page.
    (Center Foreground) Director Travis Mills behind the scenes on the western/thriller/drama film, ‘Frontier Crucible’, a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Gene Page.

    MF: Finally, what was it like collaborating with director Travis Mills on set, particularly in the remote locations that you were shooting in?

    TJ: Director Anthony Mann did a bunch of Westerns in the ’50s and ’60s, and he says, “Anytime you can get on location, you got to do it”. It brings the show to life, and it brings the actors to life. They feel grounded. They’re in the world that the characters live in, and that was certainly true for this. We had one location, we showed up there every day. We got into our costumes, and we were staying at a hotel. It was about a half hour away and our dressing room was in the hotel. They took a couple of hotel rooms and turned them into a dressing room. So, we would show up, we’d roll out of bed, stumble downstairs, grab a cup of coffee, and then hit the dressing room, where all the actors would change together, which is exactly what you do in theater. There’s one place, it’s called backstage, and that’s where you got into your outfit. So, we had that morning ritual of everybody putting on their costumes, at usually 4:30am because we had to capture the daylight. We had to be out there at the crack of dawn. Then we’d shoot until we couldn’t shoot anymore. So that community, that camaraderie, and the fact that our characters were also stuck together waiting for bad things to happen, that was fun. I got to tell you; it was unique. Normally, you hit set, you hit your trailer, you get your coffee, and you have those moments alone. We didn’t have any trailers on this. Another great thing about making a lower budget movie is the locations. We never would have been able to shoot there if it were a bigger film because there’s nowhere to put all the trucks. You’d have to put them way far away and then shuttle everybody. But we were able to just show up and me and Armie started building fires and making our own coffee over a campfire. We were making cowboy coffee. We would do that all day. We’d keep the fire going, and other actors would come around, and throw wood on the fire. We just had a little fire going all day. So, it was a unique experience. Travis created that. We all signed up. We knew what we were getting into. He’s like, “This is what I want to do.” He wanted to create that period feel to everything and I think he did a darn good job with that.

    You can pre-order the ‘Frontier Crucible’ here. 

    (L to R) William H. Macy as “Major O’Rourke” and Director Travis Mills behind the scenes on the western/thriller/drama film, 'Frontier Crucible', a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Gene Page.
    (L to R) William H. Macy as “Major O’Rourke” and Director Travis Mills behind the scenes on the western/thriller/drama film, ‘Frontier Crucible’, a Well Go USA film. Photo courtesy of Gene Page.

    What is the plot of ‘Frontier Crucible’?

    In 1870s Arizona Territory, a desperately needed wagon full of medical supplies falls victim to an Apache attack. The only man who can guide it through is Merrick Beckford (Myles Clohessy), but to get there, he’ll need to enlist the help of a trio of dangerous outlaws (Thomas Jane, Arie Hammer and Ryan Masson) hellbent on survival. When they accidentally kill an Apache scout, all bets are off, and survival is the name of the game.

    Who is in the cast of ‘Frontier Crucible’?

    'Frontier Crucible' opens in theaters and digital on December 5th.
    ‘Frontier Crucible’ opens in theaters and digital on December 5th.

    List of Western Movies and TV Shows:’

    Buy Thomas Jane Movies On Amazon

  • Thomas Jane Talks ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’

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    Opening in theaters, On Demand and digital beginning June 24th is the new Western ‘Murder at Yellowstone City,’ which was directed by Richard Gray (‘Robert The Bruce’).

    When a prospector is found dead in Yellowstone City, Sheriff Ambrose (Gabriel Byrne) quickly arrests the town’s newcomer and former slave, Cicero (Isaiah Mustafa). The town’s new preacher, Thaddeus Murphy (Thomas Jane) and his wife Alice (Anna Camp) soon discover Cicero is innocent and now must stand up to the Sheriff in order to bring the true murderer to justice.

    In addition, the film also features Nat Wolf (‘The Fault in Our Stars’), Aimee Garcia (‘Lucifer’), Zach McGowan (‘Terminator Salvation‘), Scottie Thompson (‘Star Trek’), Emma Kenney (‘The Conners’), and Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss (‘Jaws’).

    Thomas Jane has appeared in dozens of popular movies including ‘Face/Off,’ ‘Boogie Nights,’ ‘The Thin Red Line,’ ‘Magnolia,’ ‘61*,’ ‘Dreamcatcher,’ ‘The Mist,’ ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,’ and ‘The Predator.’

    But he is probably best known to Marvel fans as Frank Castle in 2004’s ‘The Punisher.’ He currently stars as Ted Conkaffey on the Freevee series, ‘Troppo.’

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Jane about his work on ‘Murder at Yellowstone City.’

    Thomas Jane in 'Murder at Yellowstone City.
    Thomas Jane in ‘Murder at Yellowstone City.

    You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Jane, and director Richard Gray.

    Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved in this project and what was your initial reaction to the screenplay?

    Thomas Jane: Me and my partner Courtney Penn started a production company in 2019 called Renegade. Renegade’s logo is a horse made out of fire. So, it was natural for us to be attracted to Westerns and to have Westerns sent to us. This was the second Western that we did that we shot in 2020. The first was called ‘The Last Son’ and that’s come and gone.

    This one we’re real proud of. It’s a script that came across our desk and we thought “this is a classic Western that does good things with the genre, but doesn’t break the genre or step outside of it, or try to twist it around in some funny way, like bringing aliens in.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this was a classic Western and when they work, they work. They’ve been around for a long time for a reason.

    It’s that tension between the individual, the freedom of the individual and the town, which is society, the rules of society and the morals of society that can be constricting in some ways. Yet you need the society in order to survive. No man is an island, but there’s always an outsider. The outsider comes into the town. The town is either a good town, full of decent people, but ultimately weak and in need of protection, open to the predations of villainous and murderous men.

    Or the town is a strong town, but bad. There’s a corrupt sheriff, there’s some corruption creeping through the veins of the town, keeping people off balance. In both cases, a hero is needed from the outside to come in and at first, he’s shunned and then he’s needed. Then at the end, he has righted some wrongs, stomped out some evil and rides off into the sunset.

    That’s the basic Western. There’re different variations on that theme. There’s the vengeance theme, which we have a little bit. There’s the professional theme, which came around in the 70’s. It was with Lee Marvin‘s ‘The Professionals,’ and ‘The Wild Bunch’ with William Holden. This was a new twist. It really didn’t exist before the late 60’s and 70’s where you had a group of professional gun fighters. It was always a group. It’s a group of pros and they’ve come in and they don’t care. They’re just being paid to do their job. Along the way their own morality is challenged and then they have to step up and write the wrongs because wrongs need righting.

    MF: Director Richard Gray has referred to you as a “Western movie expert.” Do you agree with that statement and how did your work on previous Westerns prepare you to make this movie?

    TJ: On both films we were lucky enough to meet and then work with the Schultz brothers who are a group of horse wranglers that live in the Dakotas and they are expert horsemen. The value of good horsemen to a Western, you can’t put a price on it. It is absolutely necessary in order to get your shots on time, to make your days, to get what you need out of the actor and the horse when they’re working together, it’s vital. So, I’m very happy to have teamed up with the Schultz brothers, plan on doing that again many times.

    My experience with the Western mostly comes from watching them with my dad. The Western is such a father/son relationship and me and my dad on the weekends would sit down and pop in a Western. We had a lot of great times, a lot of great discussions and a lot of interesting insights into what it meant to be a man, and what it meant to be a good man. The role of masculinity in society, how that role is both needed and despised, and how that changes over the years and the decades.

    It’s a purely an American invention, the myth of the American West. It’s like baseball and jazz. These are real American products and it spread all over the world, and now you find Italian Westerns, Japanese Westerns, Bollywood Westerns. So, it speaks to people. It doesn’t really matter where you’re from. It speaks to people who live in a society, the rights and the wrongs and the morality of that. It’s changed over the years.

    The classic Western always had a damsel in distress. She represented the weak society that needed protecting from the bad guys, and the hero would step in and say, “get behind me, woman.” He would take care of business. But then the 60’s came around and that evolved to a woman that was strong enough to be the hero’s equal. They would partner up as a couple and then take on the bad guys. That evolution you didn’t see before the 60’s or 70’s.

    Then the Western died in the eighties. There were no Westerns in the 80’s. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ in 1980 killed it. It was a huge movie and a financial disaster. It’s actually a very good film if you watch the director’s cut. It is really good, and a real tragedy that the movie didn’t do better. But that killed the Western for the 80’s.

    Then they revived again in the 90’s with ‘Dances With Wolves’ and ‘Unforgiven.’ Then you the variations start to creep in like ‘Desperado,’ or ‘The Quick and the Dead,’ where you had a strong female character taking over the role of the hero. Then ‘Posse,’ when you had a black man step up as the hero. So, we started seeing variations. Some of those variations worked better than others. You can bend the genre, but you can’t break it.

    Hopefully people have tuned into that now because it plays a very specific role in the American psyche. If you mess with it too much, then it no longer plays that role and then Westerns die again for another 10 years.

    Isaiah Mustafa and Anna Camp in 'Murder at Yellowstone City.'
    (L to R) Isaiah Mustafa and Anna Camp in ‘Murder at Yellowstone City.’

    MF: A lot of clues about your character’s past are given with very little dialogue, but its’ clear from your behavior that he hasn’t always been a preacher. Can you talk about creating his backstory for yourself and how that helped you create the character?

    TJ: I like that you mentioned that we accomplished it with very little dialogue. I’m a big fan of stripping away as much dialogue as you can and leaving only the essentials, letting the audience put the pieces together. That’s how I like to watch movies. I like to watch movies that aren’t spoon fed, that respects my intelligence enough that I will be able to put the pieces together without having somebody give a long speech.

    We accomplished that, me and Richie Gray went through the script and we were able to excise as much material as we possibly could in order to boil it down to its essentials. That allows the audience to fill in the blanks with their own imagination, much like you do when you read a novel. That’s always the goal, so it’s nice to hear you say that.

    MF: Finally, I understand that this is the first Western that Gabriel Byrne has ever made. What was it like for you working with him on this film?

    TJ: As he gets older, he has got a great face for Westerns. I think Westerns are all about faces. Sergio Leone, you look at those movies, you look at the smaller characters and the faces, the grit, the grime and the sweat, but they always had these faces that were hard road. They’ve been ridden hard. You really got that sense that life was tough. It was nasty, brutish, and short, and people were lucky to be alive every day. You could be wiped out any day by the simplest thing. Step on a rattlesnake while you’re digging a grave. So that has always appealed to me.

    Byrne is a classically trained, and a wonderful actor. He’s got a great voice. I love the Irish brogue. I love the fact that Westerns are all about immigrants, and there were a lot of immigrants coming in. So, you got a Swedish accent, or an Irish accent, or a British accent. They were all coming in. I like that aspect of the reality that we bring to it. Gabriel is a pro, he’s a real pro and he was a lot of fun to work with.

    Gabriel Byrne in 'Murder at Yellowstone City.'
    Gabriel Byrne in ‘Murder at Yellowstone City.’

    ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’ will be in Theaters, On Demand and Digital on June 24th.

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