Aaron Eckhart and Jesse V. Johnson Talk Cow Cops in Thieves Highway
This interview was originally published on Film Obsessive.
The American West has often been portrayed in films as a place where only the strong survive, where long stretches of nothingness test the limits of the best of us. Even in modern times, when we’re so connected through cell phones and the internet, huge swatches of the West are without coverage. Many movies have been made about cowboys, cops, runaways, and pretty much every other type of person, but Jesse V. Johnson’s Thieves Highway, starring Aaron Eckhart, might be the first about survival from the point of view of a self-described cow cop.
Thieves Highway is now available on Video on Demand, and Johnson and Eckhart sat down with Film Obsessive News Editor Tina Kakadelis to discuss their working relationship, the film’s understanding of justice, and why cows make the worst, and best, scene partners. Eckhart and Johnson worked together on last year’s Chief of Station, and the excitement about another opportunity to collaborate with one another is palpable.
“I love working with him,” smiles Johnson. “He brings out the best in me, brings out the best in the crew, brings out the best in the supporting cast. He’s tireless. He's one of the most physically fit human beings I know. He's one of the most dedicated craftsmen I know within the craft of acting. We talk an awful lot about characters. I love it, it's stimulating, it's brilliant. I would be happy making films with Aaron Eckhart for the rest of my career, if that were possible.”
“It's mutual,” agrees Eckhart. “It's good to work with directors you know, because you can get a rhythm and develop trust. You have to have trust with your director. As an actor, you have to know that your director is going to go all the way with you and has a vision. That's what Jesse has. He gives confidence to the actors and loves moviemaking. Absolutely loves it. When an actor's out there acting, he wants to know that his director is going to go to the limit for him. That's what Jesse does.”
courtesy of Thieves Highway
“Aaron is similar to Frank in the movie because they both have a deep moral code. Profoundly ethical,” adds Johnson. “His work ethic is similar to Frank’s in that respect because he has this task to do. He'll be beaten, bloody, scratched, drenched, soaked through, but the task is the most important thing. I felt those similarities between Frank and Aaron, and it speaks to my experience working with him as a director. This is your partner, and he makes you strive to do that.”
Thieves Highway is not a remake of the 1949 noir film of the same name, but it is perhaps the first thriller to center on a gun-carrying member of the Department of Agriculture. Eckhart plays Hank, a hardened lawman who catches wind of a group of rustlers who are stealing cattle in the night. The script was written by Travis Mills, and both Eckhart and Johnson describe it as a dream project.
“It's getting out there on the frontier and the old American West,” says Eckhart. “It’s the idea of a very simple moral code, the loneliness of the desert, and working with animals. People love the American West. They love the code of the American cowboy. I grew up watching Clint Eastwood, Redford, Newman, and Steve McQueen. It was a chance not to recreate it, but to live in that world. It’s exciting.”
“I make movies for myself,” states Johnson. “I'm my first audience member. I love these kinds of films. I love complex questions that start out very difficult, but that are boiled down to the very basics. One man against another group of people, fighting for morality. There's a lot of gray in between, though, and that's the beauty of storytelling. I'm trying to touch on that.”
“Ultimately, these are simple stories,” continues Johnson. “One man against the system. He's reduced to just him. The fiber of that man and his boots. His cell phone doesn't work anymore. Technology is gone, there's no car. He’s reduced to the shirt on his back and now he has to to overcome this challenge. There's something really freeing about that. Also rather dramatically fun and challenging, but exciting at the same time. This is not a guy who can call in backup on a headset like in Mission Impossible.”
courtesy of Thieves Highway
Thieves Highway is one of the only, perhaps the only, examples of a survivalist thriller where our traditional hero’s job is to stop agricultural crimes from being committed. After doing some research of his own, Johnson was excited at the prospect of giving these real people their due.
“I think it's the most amazing career there is,” gushes Johnson. “When I was researching this prior to giving it to Aaron, I wanted to make sure everything that was written on the script was for real. You know, it was written by Travis Mills, but J.D. Pepper, who is an actual Arizona stock detective, is also credited with the story. J.D. had a very real part in putting some little bits and pieces in the script that only someone who’d lived that life could put in. I found it exciting.”
“These men and women have to fight very hard to become a Cow Cop. It's a very difficult job to get. It's not an entry-level position. In many cases, it's one or two people covering thousands of square miles of absolutely open territory. They carry a gun in many cases. There's one woman who's a real tough-ass, and she'd make a great subject for a movie as well. She's got to cover this whole huge area and they're out on their own. Most cattle rustling happens at night with groups of meth addicts who don't want to get caught. This is dangerous stuff. For some reason, it's overlooked.”
“It's good subject matter. It is challenging,” agrees Eckhart. “I think great filmmaking is archetypical. It answers the universal questions about love, betrayal, desperation, friendship, all those sorts of things. I think if you can explore those in a film, you win. I think a movie like this can travel all over the world and people will understand it. Thieves Highway has it all, with action as well.”
As with most Westerns, there’s the idea of frontier justice. That an eye for an eye may make the whole world blind, but it’s also how the American West is governed in film. Eckhart’s Frank is the lawman, but he’s also at a crossroads with his own personal set of beliefs.
“Cow rustling still happens today. I have neighbors who get their cows rustled,” says Eckhart. “It's interesting for audiences to discuss justice. What is the cost? What sort of punishment is appropriate for something like this? When you're dealing with livelihood, people are more willing to go all the way to seek justice. Maybe they don't need a courtroom.”
courtesy of Thieves Highway
“Frank's character has a frustration, which he overcomes, with his own moral code,” adds Johnson. “When we meet him at the beginning of the movie, he’s by-the-book. He's a top gun. He wants to get out there and do the job as well as he can, above and beyond. Puts in the overtime, but he's not about to hang anyone. He's not about to take the law into his own hands.”
“As things happen, as he's continually struck by the unfairness of the situation, he hears the stories of his friends, these men who've been ranch hands and farmers for generations, telling him how they're being decimated, how they're being pulverized by this awful crime,” continues Johnson. “It’s the unfairness of it all. The tragedy of what's going on and the fact that there’s no one to help him. The sense of morality within him is pushed to the very edge of breaking.”
“Frank has this moment to decide if he’s about to step over into being a criminal himself. This is the exciting part of that character and why he appealed to me,” explains Johnson. “I think it appeals to everyone. If you've been in traffic and someone cuts you off, you'd like to get out there and do something to them. You're not going to do it, but you think about it for a brief moment. Now imagine that unrelenting pressure, and you're out there without a cell phone, without any kind of backup, 78 hours. What we’re watching for 90 minutes is a man pushed to the very edge of his moral compass.”
courtesy of Thieves Highway
Of course the elephant in the room when talking about the film is the animals involved. Perhaps “cow in the room” is a better turn of phrase. After all, one may say that the cows are the real stars of Thieves Highway. Johnson is certainly one to agree.
“They're like prima donnas,” laughs Johnson. “They’re like, don't expect me to do it a second time. You’ve got to be on your toes. Everyone has to be ready. It's like the actor who says, I'm going to do it once and then I'm going to go back to my trailer. I’ve worked with that actor at one point, and the cows are sort of like that.”
“Aaron put himself in the back of the trailer against everyone's advice, including the stunt guy,” recounts Johnson. “Cows are actually very friendly. They are big cats, but they will rub up against each other and they could crush him. That scene where Aaron’s in the back of the truck, he won't tell you this because he's too humble. But man, we were all watching that going, just please get the shot and get out.”
“I like cows. Cows are fun to work with,” smiles Eckhart. “All animals really are interesting to work with because they're real. They don't know they're acting, you know what I mean? Whatever you get from them is the real deal. That's what you're striving for as an actor in a movie. A little bit of authenticity.”
“There's a scene I watched probably 15 times with the editor, and I don't want to give a spoiler away, but at gunpoint, Frank tells the rustler, release the cows, let him go,” states Johnson. “We had probably 8 or 10 cows in the back of this one trailer. We know we can only do it once. Aaron knows we can only do it once. We understand the cows are going to disappear into the trees. It's going to take all day to round them up on horseback. We got one take, and two of the cows turn and go toward Aaron. It's the one thing they're not supposed to do. On camera Aaron goes, get the hell back, get back! The two cows appear to understand and they turn and walk away. It’s incredible.”
“You have to take control. There's the lesson,” laughs Eckhart.
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