'Hell or High Water' Writer on Character Over Plot, His Western Trilogy
Writer Taylor Sheridan penned Sicario, and Hell or High Water is right around the corner. a proposed second installment in his trilogy, which will be followed by a third. Prior to picking up the pen, Sheridan was a successful actor on Sons of Anarchy and Veronica Mars.
"I have no interest in telling a story that isn’t reflective of a place or a mirror to us as a people. The fact that I use what’s called ‘genre films’ to do it… They didn’t call it that in the 70s."
He bluntly says that he tries to "write movies people want to go see." He informed the interviewer that he wrote Hell or High Water fast, as with all of his projects, and spends months in the heads of his characters, learning how they tick.
On deadlines, he said he gets given them. When prompted on the fact that Hell or High Water was a spec, he responded with "yeah, I wrote it on spec- so my deadline was when do I want to pay the rent."
"I’ve been very fortunate with my three spec scripts — which is sort of my thematic trilogy of the American Frontier. With Sicario, Hell or High Water and then Wind River – which is the third – there were no rewrites.
"It was the first draft for all three. There were minor polishes done to get them shaped up, move a location because you can’t find that location or you can’t afford that location. But I’m very fortunate…
Wind River, he confirms, has finished filming, and it just needs visual effects touch-ups and a score to be completed. On how he sees Wind River as the closing chapter of a trilogy, he's a realist:
"Look – a lot of people may go see Sicario and Hell or High Water and Wind River and never pick up on it. But for the filmophile, it’ll be pretty hard to miss when you see Wind River."
Source: Collider
