After a decade of pushing to get the adaptation off the ground, Peter Dinklage’sThe Thicketis finally being realized. Based on Joe R. Lansdale’s 2013 novel of the same name,theGame of Thronesalumfirst came onboard the adaptation in 2014 as both a star and producer, alongside Gianni Nunnari, Shannon Gaulding and Andre Lemmers. The movie wouldn’t gain proper steam until 2020, when pre-production began with director Elliott Lester and stars Noomi Rapace, Charlie Plummer and Sophia Lillis, though the trio would be replaced due to scheduling conflicts after the movie was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dinklage would forge on ahead with the movie in 2023 withYellowjackets' Juliette Lewis, Levon Hawke and Esmé Creed-Miles filling in the roles of the previously cast trio.The Thicketis set in post-Civil War America, centering on an innocent young man named Jack, whose sister has been taken by the brutal outlaw Cut Throat Bill, and sets off in pursuit of them both in the hopes of saving her. Along the way, Jack recruits the help of reluctant bounty hunter, Reginald Jones, his business partner and former slave, Eustace Howard, and a woman forced into prostitution, Jimmy Sue.
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Dinklage leadsThe Thicketcast as Reginald alongside Hawke as Jack, Lewis as Cut Throat Bill, Gbenga Akinnagbe as Eustace,Batgirl’s Leslie Graceas Jimmy Sue, Creed-Miles as Jack’s sister Lula, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, Arliss Howard, Macon Blair and Ned Dennehy. Bringing a fresh approach to both the Western genre and Lansdale’s novel, the movie is a thrilling and compelling journey from start to finish.
In anticipation of the movie’s release,Screen Rantinterviewed producer/star Peter Dinklage and star Juliette Lewis to discussThe Thicket, why it was a passion project for Dinklage, Lewis' transformation into the villainous Cut Throat Bill, and putting together the action for the film.
Dinklage Has “Always Wanted To Be In Westerns”
Screen Rant: I lovedThe Thicket, I was just gripped from start to finish. Peter, I’d love to turn to you first. You have been attached to this project now for about a decade, and I know that you’ve been very passionate about getting this one off the ground. What was it about Joe’s book that really spoke to you to want to stick with this project for so long?
Peter Dinklage: Well, it’s such a fun story, it’s such a thriller. I sort of love the idea that it’s more of a heart of darkness story. It’s a journey down that river, in this case, snowy trails. For me, as an actor, TV affords [time], it happens over the course of many seasons and many hours, but in a movie, you still have to be a different person from the beginning to the end. What this does is it does change everybody involved in the story from who they were at the beginning.
For the young people, they have to age very quickly. What they go through really accelerates that. And for my character, that idea of letting love into his heart, for somebody who has built really cement walls around it, which, hopefully, that comes across. But yeah, and selfishly, as an actor, I’ve always wanted to be in Westerns, and this character was such a rich character, and I wasn’t going to let it go.
Lewis Went Through A “Shape-Shifting” Process For Cut Throat Bill
I’m glad you stuck with it, because you just killed it in this movie, as do you, Juliette, and I would love to turn to you next. You really transformed into Cut Throat Bill in this film, and I’d love to hear what it was about her and her journey that drew you in to want to play her?
Juliette Lewis: I was so fortunate, because all the ingredients were there, and that’s so rare in the writing. But where she came from, her past, the turn into such savagery was something I had to find on an energetic level, because I really wanted to have those dead eyes. That sort of black soul behind her eyes is very scary, and so that’s sort of this molecular — I don’t know, the shape-shifting. I can get quite metaphysical about the process, but I don’t know how you just aim for it.
I was aiming for something, and then what helps you immensely is the scarring and the throat and the voice and the ingredients that I was given. Everyone has to think she’s male, and that her legend of being so scary. I really wanted to believe it. I wanted to make people believe that. I don’t want them to think I’m just some cartoon actor being cool. So, I was trying to shape shift, for lack of a better phrase. And the whole team that was involved helped the creative process in doing that.
Peter Dinklage: You want to feel a sense of the history of the violence that has been inflicted on both our characters, rather than just two violent people. It’s the history of that violence and how that manifests in two very different people, which is fun.
I did also want to ask, how much involvement did you have as far as figuring out what some of her scarring was? Because, obviously, that seems like it would be in the script, but did you have any input on specific ones that you think she should have had?
Juliette Lewis: That’s very much the director, and then all of us together in placement, we tested it out. But also that she’s called Cut Throat Bill, we definitely have to have that, and it had to be something that would have — I liked that it mangled the voice. But that was worked through with the makeup department and the director, because you want it to all just be super believable. It was really exciting to create that.
Reginald & Eustace’s Sibling Dynamic Came “Really Easily” For Dinklage & Akinnagbe
Peter, I’ll turn back to you. You mentioned your character’s cement walls and trying to find love. I really love the dynamic that you have with Gbenga throughout this movie, there’s a real brotherly dynamic, but, like you say, Reginald’s guarded, he’s not willing to let that in. What was it like finding that dynamic in that rapport with him throughout filming?
Peter Dinklage: Well, Gbenga came really easily. I didn’t know Gbenga before we started filming, so I’m always a little bit nervous about the personality that’s going to walk into the room. But we immediately connected and bonded, and we were all cold up in Calgary, so we had each other to keep each other warm. But no, it was really easy. That came easy, and that’s due to Gbenga, but also, you need that sort of levity in a world as dark as this, and hopefully, Gbenga and I’s relationship — each one of us alone isn’t funny, but when we get together, these characters, they’re not even aware they’re being humorous.
But just the nature of their back and forth, I think, lifts it a little bit up for the audience to enjoy. And it’s the history between the two of us. We’ve been together for a long time, the characters didn’t meet like a week ago. So, there’s that ease to it, as well, and not only how the world sees ourselves, but how the world sees that other person and how they navigate that and protect each other.
Lewis & Creed-Miles Would “Take Care Of Each Other” Between Takes
Juliette, I’ll turn back to you. You and Esmé also share a lot of scenes together, but they’re obviously very different from Peter and Gbenga, in that they’re very fraught and filled with tension, but I almost feel like Cut Throat Bill sees a potential parallel to herself in Lula. So I’d love to hear what it was like finding that rapport with Esmé and that dynamic throughout filming.
Juliette Lewis: It’s interesting playing a fractured soul, because the layers to her relationship to Lu are so bizarre. For me, I felt like she was projecting, she was seeing something of herself that she could never save or retain, so she had to destroy it. So there’s all the combination of things, and also that she’s exceptionally lonely, but also she can only express love through pain. It’s such a wild combination.
So, Esmé was such a wonderful scene partner, and in between takes, we’d just take care of each other. We’re on the mountain together, we’re freezing together, and we’d just buckle up. And once you’re in action, you create that universe, so there’s a real partnership there, when you’re making tough movies with tough scenes to play. She’s so beautiful, such a beautiful performer, and so I’m really excited for people to see her work in this as well.
Reginald’s Violence Is Always About Efficiency & “Not Being Gratuitous”
Peter, I wanted to turn back to you, because you get some great action sequences in this film. I particularly love the opening bar fight in which you take that guy down with ease. What was it like working with the stunt team to really choreograph those sequences?
Peter Dinklage: Yeah, always hats off to the stunt team on any movie where there’s fighting or falling off a cliff or anything like that, because they do all the hard stuff, and they prepare you to look as cool as possible, and then they don’t complain when they get hit in the face. [Laughs] But, yeah, no, it just takes a bit of time. It was an indie film, it’s a lower-budget film, so time is not on our side. But I kind of like working that way, because it keeps the actors on our toes, less time in the trailer, more time on set.
So, we choreographed that really quickly, like the day before. And it’s also where the camera really helps out with all that stuff. The most important thing for me, character-wise, was just about not being gratuitous, and getting out of the room. Because if my character stays in the room any longer, it’s not going to be good for him. So, it’s a matter of efficiency and getting out, and that’s why he’s still alive, why he’s a survivor.
Because if he had an ego about it, he’d be dead by now, because he’d get in trouble, and it would get the better of him. But for this, it’s how quick it was and violent. In real life, it’s very fast. It happens suddenly and very quickly. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to experience it, see it firsthand, it’s not gratuitous, it’s quick and painful and over much quicker than it started. So, that was important to me, and I think Elliott and everybody did a good job with that.
AboutThe Thicket
When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” known as…The Thicket.
A film about vengeance, 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 otherThicketinterviews with:
The Thicketis now in theaters and will make its VOD debut on September 24.
The Thicket
Cast
Set in the harsh Wild West, The Thicket follows a rag-tag group of people, including an ex-slave and a brutal bounty hunter, as they hunt down a mysterious killer who goes by the name Cutthroat Bill. Their journey to find Cutthroat Bill takes them deep into the inhospitable region known as the thicket.
