Den of Geekspoke with Ross over the phone last week.
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Den of Geek: How did you first hear about Newton Knight?
I dont know if you have any sort of background down in the South or Mississippi.
I stopped to just sort of immerse myself in the topic for a very long period of time.
Some people joke that it was like an academic mid-life crisis.
I just stopped and was studying.
Then I came out the other end with a screenplay.
Thats what created or began this process.
This one, you have to do a little more digging.
Is there a lot written about him out there?
No, there wasnt.
To get the larger truths and the smaller truths at once isnt always easy.
Why did you want to include that?
I thought it was important just for the continuity and continuum.
I think that was well earned and pretty heroic and gutsy on his part.
Was this all after or while you were developing the movie?
No, I started this ten years ago.
But did those movies success make it easier to get financing for this project?
Had Matthew already won the Oscar when he was attached to play Newt?
I think it took all those things.
When you do three years of research on something and you go back to school.
Me doingHunger Gameswasnt enough to get it financed.
Even Matthew, coming off his Oscar forDallas Buyers Clubwasnt enough.
But you know, that stuff is not always an easy road, and thats understandable.
I mean, its a war movie as well as a serious historical drama.
Thats not cheap and its not like we could just do it for a smaller budget.
The scope of the movie demanded more.
Matthew did a lot of research and preparation on his own.
We did a lot of collaboration with one another, talking about the character and what the character meant.
We investigated it incredibly deeply.
Its a very subtle character.
This is a guy who runs so against the norms of his time.
Thats kind of a remarkable thing.
Did you have a lot of Civil War reenactors involved in the production?
No, a couple, but not many.
How much time did you get to spend in that area talking to the people of Jones County?
Oh, I talked to a lot of descendants.
You have to do complete and thorough research on a macro and a micro level.
You have to talk to get the fabric of the place.
Ive canoed the Leaf River, Ive slept on its banks.
Both of them are interviewed in the Smithsonian.
When you do something like this Newton Knight story, youre piecing together almost a detective story.
Its not like doing a movie on Eisenhower or Churchill or Lincoln.
Its very hard, but at the same time really exhilarating.
The wonderful thing about practical locations is that they inspire you.
We all felt that all the time we were there, so that was tremendously inspiring in that respect.
I tend to make movies outside.
Thats something I kind of loved about it.
It brings you alive and makes you feel a visceral sense of history and a connection to history.
I dont know how they didCold Mountainin Romania.
There were times where we literally couldnt get through the mud.
There were some times where we had to literally go out to a location in boats.
We had to be shooting from boats many times in the middle of the swampit wasnt easy.
The crew would get hit by chiggers and things like that.
Those things you cant fake.
That stuff you cant duplicate, and we were in just an incredibly beautiful part of the world.
If anything, I would say its just inspiring.
Actually, no, theres more music than you think.
Theres almost an hour of music in the movie, which is not small.
Im a little bit agnostic about that.
I dont expect to make what summer movies make, you know?
I want to put this document out in the world.
Im also glad that were not in the fall.
This, to me, is more important than that.
Its a scholarship that Ive engaged in.
I have a longer view of what this is.
Im really glad that its in the world.
I hope its a good date.
I guess its a good date.
There are connections to whats going on in the world today.
Its for other people to have their own emotional response to the movie.
We set the record straight about a lot of things.
Theyre both inaccurate and theyre both incredibly problematic.
I know you know (original director) Steven Soderbergh who did some work onHunger Gamesas well.
Steven and I have been close friends and colleagues for decades.
As he said in interviews, we have had one long continuous creative conversation for twenty years.
This just feels like a very natural extension to both of us.
The guy lived in my house once, however many years ago, so were close.
This isnt something where Im just coming into a franchise.
He was kind enough to do the supplemental recordings back on theSeabiscuitDVD.
It was just such a wonderful, beautiful kind of jazzfest that he created in the first one.
I dont know what that means really.
At Warners, theyve been incredibly collaborative and really great.
Im working with really wonderful, smart people there, so Im looking forward to that experience.
Free State of Jonesopens nationwide in theaters on Friday, June 24 with previews on Thursday night.
