Cinema Scholars presents an interview with Apache Junction director Justin Lee. The film, starring Stuart Townsend, Scout Taylor-Compton, Thomas Jane, and Trace Adkins, will be released by Saban Films in Theaters, On Demand and Digital on September 24, 2021.
Introduction
Horror and crime thrillers aren’t the only genre films that have enjoyed a strong presence in the independent film world. While Westerns don’t automatically come to mind when envisioning a low-budget movie, the beloved category of cinema is alive and well in the indie world.
No stranger to tales of the Old West, writer/director Justin Lee has become prolific in recent years when it comes to telling these kinds of classic stories on a smaller scale. While the filmmaker has veered into other similarly macho territories with other projects in other genres, Lee is back with his fourth Western, Apache Junction.
Premise
In the film, an outpost in the middle of nowhere Arizona called Apache Junction serves as a sort of no-man’s-land for exiled undesirables. When Annabelle Angel, a spunky journalist from the San Francisco Monitor, comes to town to do an exposé, she discovers that honor among thieves does exist. When Angel gets mixed up in some local politics, gunslinger Jericho Ford protects the vulnerable young writer from the scoundrels out to get her.
Lee’s keen capture of the late-1800s vernacular helps boost the authenticity. Lines like, “Justice will roll like a river, righteousness like a never-ending stream,” or another line about an unfortunate soul who will, ”Meet the noose and ride the pine all the way to hell,” help legitimize Apache Junction as a capable contender in the annals of memorable westerns.
Cast
It also doesn’t hurt that the people delivering those quote-worthy lines are part of a terrific little ensemble cast including Stuart Townsend as Ford, Thomas Jane as the crusty barkeep, Scout-Taylor Compton as Annabelle, and country music superstar Trace Adkins as a local Captain by the name of Hensley.
Between Adkin’s commanding baritone and presence, Townsend’s pitch-perfect outlaw bravado, and Jane’s inimitably hard-scrabble soothsaying, their strong collective effort paves the way for stellar performances from lesser-known actors such as Ed Morrone, a regular in Lee’s projects who plays the menacing baddie Oslo Pike.
Discussion
While Apache Junction’s low budget occasionally shows through and there are some slower moment, the overall effort is solid. Many scenes unfold more like a stage play with long takes of dialogue and few cutaways. Although modern sensibilities may not appreciate Lee’s lingering tempo, the technique no doubt lends itself to a more metered and contemplative storytelling style.
Additionally, Lee works the obligatory Western action sequences (a saloon brawl, the poker table showdown, a Main Street shoot-out, a quick draw duel, etc) with enough creative flair to make such clichéd scenarios his own. This approach feels like a nod to the old west greats, but without leaning too hard into the formula.
Interview
Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott recently chatted by phone with Justin Lee about making Apache Junction, crafting strong female characters, as well as the various ins and outs of working in the Western genre.
Rebecca Elliott:
Hello? Justin?
Lee:
Hey Rebecca.
Elliott:
Hi, how are you today?
Lee:
I’m fantastic. How are you?
Elliott:
I am very good. I hope you’re not tired of talking about your new Western, Apache Junction.
Lee:
Of course not! Thanks.
Elliott:
Obviously you are no stranger to writing and directing Westerns, and you’ve definitely explored other genres as well. But you keep coming back to these Westerns. And so can you talk about your desire to tell this particular brand of story and what are some of your inspirations?
Lee:
So I started out of the gate as a director and a writer with a Western because everyone kept saying, “Hey, you got to make a movie that’s going to leave a mark and turn heads.” And so I made Any Bullet Will Do. I made it for very little money in the dead of winter in Montana. It was pretty crazy and it had a lot of trials and tribulations. I’ll never forget, it got shown to a distributor when I didn’t know anything about distribution- nothing. And the acquisitions manager called me and said, “Hey, we weren’t expecting this movie.” And I said, “Well, what were you expecting?” And she goes, “Well, we weren’t expecting this much heart to get put into a film.” I was like, “Well, what do you guys watch?” I’m like, “What are you watching? What do you mean?”
So I learned something right there, which was if you put the passion behind it and put some time into it, hopefully that shows. It doesn’t show the more people get brought in on films and stuff, just as a filmmaker, sometimes that can get really diluted, which is a shame, but it does happen. But what it did was it did make me want to keep making Westerns and people kept coming to me to make Westerns. I love the genre. I think it was a genre…that I grew up with.
My grandpa had me watching those kinds of movies, and it was always on TV, whether it was TNT, or whether it was “Nick at Nite”, there was always Westerns on. And it’s something in another interview they had asked me about, “Hey, this genre died and now it’s kind of coming back.” And I was like, “Yeah, it did die and now it is coming back.” And for some reason, people only think it’s coming back because occasionally, you get a big movie, like a big, huge studio budget movie, but if you look at indies, the Western really hasn’t gone anywhere. There’s always kind of been indies-
Elliott:
That’s true.
Lee:
… Especially over the past seven, eight years. And so it’s a weird thing because Hollywood doesn’t make a bunch of them because there’s not a lot of international value. They only do really well in North America. And so you have to figure out what the story is, who’s in the movie, there’s so much that goes into it. I don’t care about any of that. I just want to tell a story.
So my passion just comes from being able to tell a good story, and especially, telling stories that don’t get to be told that often in this genre. Which part of that comes into the fact that I got told from day one, by an executive producer who took some time out of his day to have lunch and talk to me, he said, “Hey, this is a male dominated genre. I’d never put a female in a Western.” And that really shook me and it pissed me off.
Elliott:
(laughing)There were no women in the Old West! They did not exist.
Lee:
It really made me angry. And I’ve tried to implement a co-lead or a female-driven story in most of my Westerns. And I never get to talk about this pissed off. Lionsgate sent a team to come interview us for Apache Junction’s release, and I kind of talked about it in the featurette, but it really drove me crazy. And I’m like, man, when we’re in this age where we have all this stuff that’s being done, and female-led stories, and all this great stuff, why isn’t this being talked about more, especially with this particular genre?
Elliott:
Yeah. Totally. I mean, it’s a missed opportunity for some great stories. Period.
Lee:
Yeah. Anyway, it kind of burns. It kind of gets me riled up sometimes because I’m just like, it was such a ridiculous thing to say, especially to a first time filmmaker. And anyway, I just went forward and started making Westerns. And I try to make a story that involves a female perspective whenever I can. Especially with this one, with Scout’s character, Annabelle Angel, and having to leave your mark as a woman in a male dominated Wild West. A woman who’s like, “Listen, I’m just going to go into the lawless territory. I’m going to make a story to turn heads.”
Elliott:
Since you started off with Westerns and had a couple of them under your belt, what things did you learn as a writer and director that you took with you to Apache Junction? Anything in particular? Or how is it different?
Lee:
Oh, so much. So much.
Elliott:
I’m sure!
Lee:
I mean, pacing. Pacing’s always hard. As a filmmaker, it’s like you’re trying to please an audience, you’re trying to please investors, you’re trying to please the distributor, it’s a balancing act and it’s exhausting. And so at the end of the day, you have to try to put your blinders on and just tune it all out and say, “I want to make the story I want to make.” Again, it gets very difficult. Pacing is a big one that I’ve tried to improve on or try to take with me. I read every review, every movie and I read all the negatives. I read all the positives and I try to take that all in and say, “What do I need to work on with each movie that I do?”
And Westerns are so complicated because most of the old Westerns, if you watch them, their action scenes last less than 15 seconds. All the old classic Westerns are just dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. And in society today, we sit back and we want to constantly be entertained with constant action, and this and that. The only person who can get away with talking heads that are so interesting, where people sit and they watch it, is Tarantino.
Elliott:
Right, and maybe Linklater.
Lee:
Right, but Linklater’s not doing Westerns.
Elliott:
Nope. True.
Lee:
It’s so interesting to me to go, “Man, you got to find this balance and make an intriguing Western for an audience,” but yet, I love dialogue. I love to have characters talk and to eat scenery.
Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.
Elliott:
Absolutely. And you write some really interesting dialogue too. Can you talk about some of your research. It just seemed pretty authentic, and it seemed like you really took some time to get the vernacular and the mannerisms of the time.
Lee:
I do know a lot about the 1800s. I read a lot of books and I grew up… My grandpa had a bunch of original Time novels. So it was really cool to read those. But sometimes, you just have actors come in and they know exactly what they’re doing. Obviously, Trace Adkins comes in and knows what he needs to do. Thomas Jane came in and he had that character pinned from day one.
Elliott:
It’s incredible.
Lee:
Yeah. He came in, he goes, “Justin, Justin, come here, come here.” So yeah, he goes, “Hey, what do you think about this pipe?” And I go, “I love it.” He goes, “I just started doing it, but I think it’s amazing for this character.” And I was like “Yes!”
Elliott:
Yeah! Do it.
Lee:
And he used that pipe as a whole tool for his character and it was so great. Tom brought something to that character I didn’t even create on the page. I mean, he brought a whole different character that I saw, and I absolutely love his character, and I love Tom Jane.
Elliott:
You literally just checked off one of my later questions. Did somebody like Thomas Jane get to play or was all of that on the page?
Lee:
No, he totally got to play. And obviously, growing up watching… I mean, I remember going to the theater and watching Deep Blue Sea and Punisher. I remember Tom sitting around one day, and he wasn’t even supposed to be in the scene in the end, and I said, “Tom,” and he looked right at me. He goes, “You want me to walk out on the front of this porch and just rack the shotgun?” I go. “Absolutely.” He goes, “Done, kid.” And so he did it, and then, he’s sitting, looking at the shotgun and he goes, “You know what?” And I go, “What?” And he goes, “This is the same damn shotgun I had in The Punisher.”
Elliott:
What?
Lee:
And I was just, this is awesome. And so we had a ball and this is a very special project for me because my grandparents, both, had passed away just shortly beforehand, and I was never super close with my uncles. I have three uncles, and I got to bring most of my family out, and they all got to be, whether they were extras or whatever, they were in Apache Junction.
Elliott:
Oh, that’s awesome.
Lee:
It brought my whole family together. It was amazing. And my uncle sat, well, my Uncle Dan, got to sit and talk to Tom. He gave him all these different places to go fly fish because Tom’s dad loves to fish. And then, Tom and his dad went on this trip, and they went to all these places, and they went and fished, and it was a very family vibe on that set. It was just awesome. I have some great memories from this movie.
Elliott:
I also noticed that on this production and I mean, throughout many of your productions, you’ve taken a lot of cast and crew with you to the new pictures. I don’t know, it seems a little novel to me. Some people like to work together and they have their certain people, but not always whenever you’re starting out. Can you talk about just that level of loyalty and working with some of the same folks?
Lee:
So you find people you deal with and you start to create friendships. And then, that turns into a big thing of loyalty. This is where I will talk Ed Morrone up all day long.
Elliott:
He is amazing in the film!
Lee:
We became friends on a movie called Final Kill. He was supposed to play the villain and there was a complication. Not complication, there was just an issue with who I wanted to play the lead. That particular individual didn’t want to do all this dialogue. He’s like, “This character shouldn’t say anything. This character should just do whatever.” I said, “This isn’t going to work.” I want a cynical, crabby, hilarious hero that people were cracking up because he was just so angry all the time.
And I looked over, and Ed lived right by me, and I was just like, “Hey Ed, how would you feel if I switched this up on you and gave you this character the week before shooting?” And he took it on. He completely took it on. He’s hilarious in Final Kill. And that started this friendship. We’ve been through thick and thin together. He now produces with me, and he’s in stuff, and he’s grown tremendously. He’s just a great person. He’s like a brother to me, and we work virtually on everything together.
courtesy of Saban Films.
Elliott:
That is super cool. So not only do you work with the same people continually, but you’re actually collaborating on the next level, essentially.
Lee:
I think that a lot of directors find the people, and this is the big thing is that as a director, you find those people who you can count on and rely on in the toughest times because filmmaking, again, is so volatile, especially on sets. You get days cut from you, you get equipment cut, you get people cut.
And it’s like, you have to think on the fly in the moment, on your feet…as long as you have, and you can surround yourself with people that you can rely on, who can hold you up in tough times, that’s what you have to have as a filmmaker around you. And that is, to me, is why David Russell, Tarantino, all these guys work with a lot of the same people because they know exactly who they can go to and rely on for all that stuff.
Elliott:
Yep. That’s true. Are there other genres you want to dive into?
Lee:
I did a horror movie several years back. It was a little indie, and it did really well. I’d love to go back into horror. That’s on the docket. I just shot a practical shark film in Hawaii this summer and got to work with Trace again. He’s the lead in it, and he is phenomenal. But I am just about ready to start a new movie. I’m actually remaking The Most Dangerous Game, the original man hunting man story.
Elliott:
Nice. Oh my gosh. And you’re writing this one too?
Lee:
Yeah, I wrote it. I kind of revamped it from the original short story. I revamped it to be set just shortly after World War II. So it’s got a World War II aesthetic to it.
Elliott:
Another period piece! You love your period pieces.
Lee:
Yeah. I do tend to drift towards period pieces just because they’re really fun. Costumes, and set design, and it’s a blast to work in periods.
Elliott:
Absolutely. And it’s evocative and it also isn’t all messed up with all of our current technology, and politics, etc.
Lee:
I think people can get lost in a different time frame rather than seeing the same stuff every day, all day.
Elliott:
Absolutely. Well, I think that is about time’s up for us, but I just want to thank you so much for chatting with me. I wish we had more time. I have lots more questions. Good luck with Apache Junction.
Lee:
I thank you for having me.
Saban Films will release the action/Western Apache Junction in Theaters, On Demand and Digital on September 24, 2021.
Check out more Cinema Scholars interviews!
Director Amber Sealey Talks Ted Bundy and NO MAN OF GOD
Vintage L.A.’s Alison Martino Takes Us Down Memory Lane
