‘Broke’ Interview: Wyatt Russell and Dennis Quaid

Available on digital beginning May 6th is the new Western sports drama ‘Broke’, which was written and directed by Carlyle Eubanks (‘The Signal’), and stars Wyatt Russell (‘Thunderbolts*’), Dennis Quaid (‘The Substance’), Mary McDonnell (‘Dances with Wolves’), and Tom Skerritt (‘Top Gun’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Wyatt Russell and Dennis Quaid about their work on ‘Broke’, if as a former professional hockey player Russell could relate to what his character is going through, why Quaid’s character is so hard on his son, working with actress Mary McDonnell, training for the horse-riding scenes, and how they shot the snowstorm sequence.

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Moviefone: To begin with, Wyatt, as a former professional hockey player, could you relate to what your character is going through and his passion for his sport?

Wyatt Russell: That was one of the original draws for me, to be honest, the authenticity of what this world brought. I don’t like doing any sports movies. I don’t like watching any sports movies, to be honest, that feel inauthentic. This felt very authentic. I asked the director, “Do you know about this world?” He was like, “Yeah, because this is what I do when I’m not writing or directing movies.” I felt like I was in good hands, and I just knew that so much of what True goes through in the story is what I went through in hockey. I had concussions. Doctors tell you not to play. You feel like you get better, you go back, you have other issues, and you just won’t let them take you off the ice. In this instance, you can’t rip me off the horse, and you just got to keep getting back on. I went through it. I had to finally have someone tell me, “You can’t play anymore,” for me to stop playing and enter a life of the arts. It was just so different from what I was doing. I know it sounds crazy, and people are like, “Well, I don’t understand.” You didn’t do it. I was there doing it. When you must change gears like that, it’s daunting. It’s a whole new life. It’s a whole new you. You must change your identity, and so a lot of that was played into the film.

MF: Dennis, can you talk about your character’s relationship with his son, the tough love that he gives him, and working on that dynamic with Wyatt?

Dennis Quaid: Carlyle, who wrote the script and directed it, just from the first page, it is descriptions, which I say I’d never read except here. He’s so authentic, just the way he describes shooing a horse and what goes through there. Does this guy really know these people? He knew this life, and this world. These are men that don’t even know their own feelings. Forget about expressing them, which is gargantuan. The littlest breakthrough is a big one in a sense. He’s a guy out there trying to make it and trying to pass something important onto his sons, based upon the way he grew up, which is all we ever know. I think a lot of people can relate with that. I had Wyatt to do this with, which we had a good relationship to begin with. He knows what he is doing, and he’s very authentic. So, I wanted to be a part of it.

MF: Wyatt, what kind of training did you do to prepare for the bronco-riding scenes?

WR: I’ve done a lot of movies where I had to have horse training. I always would talk to the horse guys and be like, “Can I come out again?” Because it’s fun to learn. They’re always amazing people too. We had the eight-time national cutting champion, and I was like, “Can you teach me how to do stuff?” They’re free lessons. This was something I got to be able to go do and do a little bit of what I think is exciting to do on horseback. With Carlyle, we worked on roping skills, which was a big one because that wasn’t something that I was comfortable doing. I hadn’t done any of that. There was a lot of little things that we worked on, just the little details, so it didn’t look like I didn’t know what I was doing, or I hadn’t done that before. But you can tell when someone gets up on a horse immediately whether they’re a rider. I like being able to be authentic in things, and it was what I felt I could bring to this because I did have some ability.

MF: Dennis, had you ever worked with actress Mary McDonnell before and what was it like working with her on this project?

DQ: No, that was really a first. Gosh, she’s good. She made it seem so real to me as well, those people who live out there and what their life is like and what they endure. It really felt like a marriage, with a history to it.

MF: Finally, Wyatt, can you talk about shooting the snowstorm scenes, and were you as cold and miserable as it seemed like you were while you were shooting them?

WR: We made this movie for very little money, and we had to have a snowstorm. We shot it in two seasons, obviously, but we had to have a snowstorm. It had to happen. It wasn’t happening. But suddenly, boom, we get a cold snap. It was a negative 35 degrees in Wisdom, Montana. There’s no service up there. We had a skeleton crew wherever we were. There were two days, one where I had to go in the river, which is gnarly. The other one was where I had to bury myself in snow and pop up out of it. I had to be under there for a few minutes, until they set the camera up, and then I hear, “Okay, action.” Then I pop up, and I’ve got snow everywhere. I had a little snorkel. We didn’t have anything. My trailer was a rental car. We didn’t have any money. I was producing the movie. I was like, “Hey, get used to being uncomfortable”. I’m in a jean jacket and jeans, and let’s go. I’d come home, and I’d take a cold shower. I learned this. I would come home, and I would take a cold shower every night, because getting comfortable made it way worse. So, for that two-and-a-half weeks, I tried to stay as uncomfortable as possible because the more comfortable I got with being uncomfortable, the easier it became. Not so horrible. The weather was too gnarly to get warm and cozy.