Tim Blake Nelson is set to shoot a slick Western in Spain called “Shoot,” directed by Guillermo Navarro. Navarro, who is a regular cinematographer for Guillermo del Toro, won an Oscar for “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
“We have a great cast and a script by British writer Ian Wilson. Westerns change, reflecting a cultural moment when they are made. Yellowstone, Power of the Dog… every generation needs to bring its own perspective to the genre. This film is about the power of the gun as a corrupting force,” he reveals.
“It’s a very current scenario, but it’s very timely. We start shooting in November. The great thing about Westerns is that they require spectacular scenery, but a good Western doesn’t have to cost $100 million. We made ‘Old Henry’ for $1.2 million. It’s a way to do a superhero movie in natural settings and without visual effects.”
There will be no escaping the visual effects in “Captain America: Brave New World,” as Nelson will finally reprise his role as Samuel Sterns after his 2008 “The Incredible Hulk.”
“I was very sad about the possibility of not being able to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All I wanted to do as an actor was see what would happen to this guy. After 18 years, I got to do that and I wasn’t disappointed,” he said.
“It was a huge challenge and I had great guidance from Julius Onah, who is an independent director. These are real directors who want to work with real actors and give them the opportunity to play weird characters. Marvel supports that.”
Despite some recent voices predicting Marvel's premature demise, according to Nelson, we should never “count Marvel out.”
“Marvel is an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of cinema. Kevin Feige and his studio have produced dozens of connected films that exist in a single cinematic universe, if we want to use their term. There is no comparable achievement. So I don’t think it’s over,” he notes, calling “Captain America” the “most realistic” of the MCU franchises — along with “Logan.”
“This will be a great movie,” he asserts.
“I can’t respect Martin Scorsese more. He’s a genre guy, but I don’t agree with him when he makes fun of Marvel. I agree that Marvel movies are cinema, absolutely. They take us back to our childhood. And when they’re really good, and they often are, you lose yourself in them. Are they deep? Are they like Goodfellas and Miller’s Crossing, or like Bicycle Thieves, Schindler’s List, or Kieslowski? No, but they don’t aspire to be. They’re entertaining and they’re artistic.”
“This is my Marvel letter.”
Nelson, who currently serves as a jury member at the Locarno Film Festival, won’t be forgetting his indie roots anytime soon, as he will screen the intimate drama “Bang Bang” at the Swiss festival out of competition. The Vincent Grachaux-directed film sees him play retired boxer Bernard “Bang Bang” Rosicky, determined to right the wrongs of the past.
Randomix Productions and Traverse Media are producing the film, in association with Red Barn Films.
“This role has demanded more from me than any other role has, both physically and mentally. In a sense, I’m a fighter too – if you do what I do, you should be – but I’m not a confrontational person and this role is. He’s a guy who keeps himself in fighting shape. I don’t have any background as a boxer, so I’ve done some pretty intense training.”
After observing Daniel Day-Lewis on the set of “Lincoln,” he said he didn't mind preparing for roles.
“Working with Daniel has changed my approach to what I do, and I’m not alone in that regard. You just get better just by being around him. I almost wanted to take all these roles I played at 17 before and do them all again,” he laughed.
“I don’t do what he does: If you tried to stay in character all day, it would be exhausting. He’s exceptional in that regard—I’m not. At the same time, another great actor, John C. Reilly, told me that every role is a ‘custom job.’ It’s this combination of developing a constant process for yourself and being open to changing it based on the role.”
In “Bang Bang”, he got his own “I could have been a contender” speech. Absolutely Brando in “On the Waterfront”.
“I love this scene. It effectively discusses what happened that made him the wreck of a man he is now. I have to give all the credit for this scene to writer Will Janowitz. It's a speech that doesn't feel like a speech. What an amazing moment for an actor to perform.”
Throughout his career, he's had a few moments like this.
“One of them was, of course, ‘Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Another was ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.’ When they said, ‘Go back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe,’ and when Damon Lindelof asked me to play Looking Glass in ‘Watchmen.’”
“As actors, we are often limited by ourselves and our shortcomings, by the industry and the audience. I have been given roles that required silliness, stupidity, weirdness, and rarely, if ever, aloofness. And suddenly, I was offered a character who was aloof. She only shared what she had to share. I look at ‘Watchmen’ the same way I look at Nolan’s ‘Batman’ films. You enter this world and you never want to leave.”
He's also set to direct his next film this year — his first since 2015's “Anesthesia.”
“Cassavetes was the granddaddy of all of this, but there’s definitely a greater tolerance for actors directing. On O, I resisted doing that. There were all these teen-oriented Shakespearean adaptations going on at the time and I didn’t want to add to it,” because “I love Shakespeare. But the film was a tragedy set in a high school, not a comedy, and instead of being disgusting, it was an opportunity to express what was and is happening with gun control in schools in America.”
A modern version of “Othello” starring Julia Stiles, Mickey Phifer and Josh Hartnett.
“The film struck a chord. In fact, it struck a very strong chord. While we were editing, Columbine happened. The film was delayed and came out a year later. Shakespeare wrote about anti-Semitism and racism. Those issues still exist, unfortunately,” he notes. But films shouldn’t try to please everyone. Even now, when the future of independent cinema seems threatened.
“Once movies start trying to ‘like’ the audience, we run into a problem. In Bang Bang, this character was completely unlikable. The trick was to make sure the audience wanted to see what he did next. The Cohen brothers’ movies don’t try to like the audience. In The Big Lebowski? There’s violence, where Jeff Bridges’ best friend’s ashes are blown in his face… I mean,” he says.
“Here’s what I know: There’s an appetite for arthouse films in America. What’s missing is the ability to make money from platforms. With Apple, for example, you can go to their “Movies” icon and find “Independent Films” and “New Discoveries.” They’ve now folded that into Apple TV+, so they can bring their own material to the forefront. Another answer is to make the art experience more personal. You have places like the Alamo Drafthouse — the film I made with my son. [Henry Nelson]“‘Asleep in My Palm’ sold out there for a week. We need an art house in every major American city. And I need to be in great movies.” and “Make great movies.”
Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival
