Summary
The Old West was full of terrifying and conniving male figures, as explored inThe Dead Don’t Hurt. Viggo Mortensen’s return to the directorial chair largely centers on Vicky Krieps' Vivienne Le Coudy, a Franco-Canadian immigrant who falls in love with Danish immigrant, Holger Olsen, played by Mortensen, and leaves behind her life of luxury for a quiet, more humble one with him. As he heads off to take part in the Civil War, however, Vivienne finds herself under the eyes of some menacing people in their town.
One such figure is that of Solly McLeod’s Weston Jeffries, son of the wealthy local landowner, Albert Jeffries, who utilizes his money for not only corrupt business means, but also to keep his son out of trouble. This trouble includes setting his sights on Vivienne, approaching her as a seemingly sincere and nice individual, only to have darker motives behind his effort to connect to her. McLeod is an on-the-rise British actor, having starred in episodes ofHouse of the Dragonseason 1 as Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, among other projects.
Viggo Mortensen’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked
Viggo Mortensen is one of the most prolific actors of his generation, and his best movies include Academy Award winners and box office hits.
Alongside Mortensen, Krieps and McLeod, theensembleDead Don’t Hurtcastincludes Garret Dillahunt, W. Earl Brown and Nadia Litz. Utilizing a non-chronological structure to tell its powerful story, the movie has continued Mortensen’s success streak as a writer/director/producer, with the Western drama currently holding an 85% “Certified Fresh” approval rating from critics on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.
Ahead of the movie’s wide release,Screen Rantinterviewed Solly McLeod to discussThe Dead Don’t Hurt, how he sought to find some kind of humanity in his psychopathic character, in spite of few redeeming qualities for him, flipping the switch to play the seemingly genuine side of Weston, and filming the movie’s harrowing assault scene with Krieps.
Though the story may primarily focus on Vivienne and Olsen’s lives,The Dead Don’t Hurtoffers a significant amount of screen time to its other characters, namely McLeod’s Weston. While humorously reflecting on Mortensen sending him the script, noting he would never tell the three-time Oscar nominee “this script is s–t”, he recalled being blown away by the “amazing” screenplay, particularly in how big of a role he was being offered for the movie:
Solly McLeod: Yeah, initially, just the fact that I could have been working with Viggo and Vicky was already kind of enough for me to want to do the film. He called me up, and he kind of said, “I’m gonna send you the script, there’s a role in it I think you’d be great for. If you hate the script, then just let me know.” And I was like, “Yeah, all right. I’m not really going to write back to Viggo Mortensen and tell him this script is s–t.” [Chuckles] But the script was amazing, the role he wanted me to do was just so much bigger than I expected. I didn’t realize how big the role was, and how much of an absolute psychopath he was, as well. So, I was like, “This is going to be a fun challenge to play this guy.” So, yeah, many things drew me in.
The Key To Playing Any Kind Of Villain Is “Something That You Can Empathize With” (Even If There Are Few “Redeeming Factors)
While Danny Huston’s Mayor Schiller and Garret Dillahunt’s Albert Jeffries are also antagonists in the film, McLeod’s Weston is ultimately the true villain inThe Dead Don’t Hurt. When it came to finding a way to play the character, the star acknowledges that the key for any character, “good or bad, psycho or not” is finding “something that you can empathize with”, which proved all the more challenging for Weston, who didn’t have “many redeeming factors”:
Solly McLeod: I think the key, like with any character, good or bad, psycho or not, is that you need to find something that you can empathize with, as the actor who’s playing them. And for Weston, it was like, I don’t know how many redeeming factors there are, really, if any. So, I kind of moved on to trying to find any moments of vulnerability that I could kind of use and abuse to basically delve into his psyche a little bit, and is the reason why he is how he is.
There’s a specific scene with him and his father, Alfred Jeffries, where you see kind of a confrontation, and you see Weston as a character who, up to this point, has been the most kind of intense, strong character on screen in this film, and then suddenly, he’s a little bit of a puppy. He doesn’t really know what to do, he can’t really break out of this grasp that his father has on him. And that, for me as an actor, gave me enough to delve into that part and kind of build on the stuff that had happened to him maybe when he was younger.
“Where’s his mother? Did he lose her? Is that the reason why he’s so enamored by Vivienne?” All of this kind of stuff started to play, and I was like, “Amazing, cool.” So, I think finding a truth like that really helps, even when you’re playing the most crazy characters, because then you can ground it in that place, and just build on the insaneness from that.
One such scene that really pushed this was the movie’s halfway point, in which Vivienne, alone after Olsen left for the Civil War, is visited by Weston late at night and, despite her best efforts, finds herself attacked by him. Heading into the filming for that scene, McLeod recalls there being a “tense” atmosphere on the set, though was grateful that it wasn’t shot until the latter portion of production, as it allowed him and Krieps the time to get to know one another on set and ensure they both “felt comfortable” with how it played out:
Solly McLeod: I think the fact that we didn’t shoot it towards the start, we were kind of halfway through filming, maybe even towards the end, at the time that we shot it, which definitely helped, just because we got to know each other, and we could be more comfortable in that sense. There was definitely a vibe on set, it was more tense than other days. [Chuckles] But I think that was a good thing, to be honest. I think people were feeling like that, because they knew how sensitive of a scene it was, and how wary they were, making sure that the right things were being done to verify everyone felt comfortable, and stuff like that.
Which is what needs to happen all the time on film sets, you know? So, yeah, it was intense, and it was obviously a horrible thing to shoot. But again, me and Vicky kind of spoke, and we just kind of went through it, we were like, “This is how it is, we know who we’re playing, we know who we are, Solly and Vicky, let’s just go for it, and then touch base every now and then when the camera cuts.” All in all, it was fairly unproblematic.
The Movie’s Non-Chronological Story Led To Some “Calmer Days On Set” For McLeod
Despite being the movie’s major villain from its opening moments, the non-chronological structure ofThe Dead Don’t Hurtallowed viewers to get a better understanding of Weston’s motivations and overall personality. This, in turn, also led to some “calmer days on set” for McLeod, as he was able to play the kinder side of his character with a “genuine” approach, particularly as Mortensen noted to him that “there doesn’t have to be an underlying threat there”:
Solly McLeod: It was quite fun switching from a menace, murderer, psychopath to charming, genuine-seeming kind of guy. Some scenes, he’s a lovely guy, which is really weird to see, because we knew from the start, that this big opening scene was going to take place first, that the audience would already just distrust him anytime he was on screen, no matter what. So, it gave way to when I was playing the more, “Hey, how’s it going?”
That kind of stuff, Viggo was just like, “Just be genuine. Be super nice and be real, genuine. There doesn’t have to be any underlying threat there, because the threat will come from the perspective from what people have seen before.” So, those days were quite nice, actually, because it was kind of out of sync. Within the film, it’s like, “Oh, my God, what is this guy going to do? He’s so weird and manipulative.” But for us, it was like one of the calmer days on set, for sure.
The Dead Don’t Hurt is a story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to travel with him to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada, where they start a life together. The outbreak of the civil war separates them when Olsen makes a fateful decision to fight for the Union. This leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his unscrupulous business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt).
Alfred’s violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances. When Olsen returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become. Both a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.
The Dead Don’t Hurt
Cast
The Dead Don’t Hurt is a story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to travel with him to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada, where they start a life together. The outbreak of the civil war separates them when Olsen makes a fateful decision to fight for the Union. This leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his unscrupulous business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Alfred’s violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances. When Olsen returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become. Both a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.
