As the character Robert Grainier in Train Dreams, Joel Edgerton is a man of few words. In a new featurette released by Netflix, he lets his co-stars do the talking as well. Gold Derby has the exclusive first look:
“I’ve been a fan of Joel’s for so long, he’s just an amazing actor and storyteller on top of that,” says Clint Bentley, the film’s director and co-writer (along with Greg Kwedar). “Joel is such a great partner to have on this film because he has such a deep understanding of this character and of the story that I was trying to tell.”
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The film, which is based on Denis Johnson‘s 2011 novella, chronicles the life of Grainier, a logger in the forests of the Pacific Northwest during early 20th-century America. It’s become a critical darling since its debut at Sundance; it was released in theaters on Nov. 7 ahead of its debut on Netflix on Nov. 21. The film — and Edgerton — have been climbing steadily in Gold Derby’s prediction charts for the Best Picture and Best Actor races, along with Best Adapted Screenplay.
Edgerton does manage to get in a few words: “It’s a very personal film, this, for me in many ways,” he says. “Robert is kind of an everyman in the sense of what we might hope for: sensitive, honest and attuned to people and things in the environment around him.”
“Joel can do so much with so little,” adds Bentley. “He can give such a subtle performance, that he can completely disappear into a character, and yet you still feel the strength of his presence.”
His co-stars agree, including William H. Macy, who makes a memorable appearance in the film as a fellow itinerant worker. “I looked up at Joel, and he had this delightful grin on his face,” says Macy. “It said it all. He was really listening to me. You can pretend to listen, or you can really listen. And he was right there.”
Felicity Jones plays Gladys, the woman Robert falls in love with. “Joel is like a rock; there’s something so elemental about him,” she says. “It’s such an extraordinary ability to make people relax around him, and he really emboldens you.”
Kerry Condon, whose ranger character crosses paths with Grainier later in the film, calls Joel “spiritual.” “He’s such an observer of things in life that when he does open his mouth and he does reveal his inner feelings, it is very like, ‘Oh my god,'” she says.
“Joel is such an amazing actor that he can just say everything without saying a word, just with his eyes and his expression,” says cinematographer Adolpho Veloso. “So we were just trying to let him be and capture those moments, because we knew we needed all those reflection moments. We just wanted to capture the beauty in his silence.”
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