Actor Scoot McNairy Discusses His New Film BLOOD FOR DUST

Introduction

Scoot McNairy is one of those actors you just recognize. In a career spanning the large of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, to Best Picture winners Argo and 12 Years a Slave, McNairy now stars in Blood for Dust.  Dirrected by Rod Blackhurst, McNairy stars as a down-on-his-luck salesman who gets roped into drug and gun smuggling by his shady friend Ricky (Kit Harrington).

I had the pleasure of interviewing McNairy. We talked about his role in the film, his appeal to darker roles, not looking in the past at his career, and getting recognized in Home Depot.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Interview

Ben Miller:

Congratulations on your film. What a fun little thing to have.

Scoot McNairy:

Thanks so much, Ben, and thank you for taking the time to meet with me.

Ben Miller:

I don’t know if I would classify this as your first “lead” role, but it’s definitely one of the more distinct films where you as the character dictate the action. Did you feel like there’s any pressure to go with that kind of having that role?

Scoot McNairy:

That’s a really good question, Ben. I mean, I feel a lot of pressure with even roles that I’m only in one scene in the movie. I just feel like you know, there’s always a certain certain sense of pressure here. But I have played, you know, leads in the past, probably in a lot more independent films that a lot of people that never, you know, got the distribution or the thing.

So that being said, I feel like I really cut my teeth on that, working on that TV show Narcos. And so, playing a lead there and sort of carrying the story. That being said on both of these projects, I had an incredibly talented group of people around me, like actors, storytellers, showrunners, and directors.

And so if anything, yeah, there’s a certain sense of anxiety, but it’s all calmed by, the person, the captain of the ship [who] knows what they’re doing. They’re really confident in them and you have a lot of trust in them.

Ben Miller:

Especially with this kind of character, it’s not one that’s going to just dictate their feelings and spill everything to the audience in exposition. It’s much more of an interior kind of character. Do you do you like personally to flesh out more than what’s on the page? Or is that more of a collaborative effort with the filmmakers to try to get really down deep on what this character is actually like?

Scoot McNairy:

Oh, I definitely think it’s a collaboration with the director. Personally, as an actor, I like to bring you know, as much of the things that are personal to me to a character. That’s definitely something that you strive for. That being said, you always want to really chat with the filmmaker about it, just to make sure that you guys are making the same movie.

And I think that a lot of those conversations are more about that. And in sort of a lot, a lot of me and Rod’s language was. Talking about past movies with slow burns that are crime thrillers that, you know, maybe weren’t that successful, but we didn’t care. We just loved those movies so much. And so Rod was really, really specific in getting me on board with the pacing and the tone of this film. We definitely collaborated on Cliff quite a bit. And we had a lot of time too, because this movie took a really long time to get off the ground.

Ben Miller:

So what were those influences of those crime thrillers that you’re, like you said, they might not be all that successful, but what are the ones that you really cling to?

Scoot McNairy:

Oh, I mean, just off the top of my head, Fargo the TV series, the original film, a lot of the Coen Brothers, No Country for Old Men, there’s another movie, this Australian film called The Stranger. Me and Rod talked about that movie a lot, you know, and just how much we liked the pacing and, and the tone of it.

And the performances were phenomenal and it was such a great film. I think The Stranger was a big topic because it had just come out, you know, and I don’t know how well it did or how successful I’m unaware of that. So I apologize. I may be speaking out of turn, but regardless, we both just loved that film and thought it was really well done. I feel like I might have referred to it a couple of times and Ron was like, “No, we’re not making that movie.”

Ben Miller:

It’s funny, in your career you’ve been in some really massive productions with huge ensembles, some with huge visual effects and the biggest of budgets, but this film is much more bare bones. Like on set, I can imagine there’s just a huge difference between what those kinds of productions are like and what you experienced here.

Scoot McNairy:

For sure it it does feel like a little bit more that when you’re working on a lower budget film or like even an independent film there’s a lot of collaboration between not just the filmmaker and the the actor and the cinematographer. It becomes a collaboration with almost the entire crew and I kind of came up that way. I did a decade of films for no money. Just like, no money, and so I really love that world of collaborating with everybody and hearing other people’s ideas.

And it just makes me really feel like the entire crew is part of the creative process, which I really like and not to say that it’s not like that on a bigger film. Definitely, you can feel it more on a on a on a smaller film.

Ben Miller:

That makes sense. Like you, I also grew up in Texas and I know the open spaces of Texas [as well]. You really get that feeling of that open space and, like…okay people do live here, but not a ton of people live here. And that’s kind of what the entire film is like. It’s not really one where people are going to butt into your business because there just aren’t a lot of people. That just adds kind of more to the mystique and kind of what you’re going for in the film.

Scoot McNairy:

Yeah. I mean, like, uh, the scout locator is from Billings, Montana, where we shot the movie. It was great because it’s a very small town. It reminded me of Brennan, where I lived for a really long time. And so Billings, Montana reminded me a lot of Brennan. Brennan is a very small town, but, you know, this guy…every time where we went, he knew everybody. I mean, a whole town, which, you know [them], and they all [know you], they all loved them.

That part of it, yeah, you definitely felt like you were in a small country town and everyone was very excited to give up locations and very excited there was a movie there and that’s not necessarily something you always see these days. So the community in Billings was very, very helpful and very, very accommodating to us coming up there and shooting.

Ben Miler:

I’ve enjoyed so, so very much of your entire career and obviously would not tell you what to do or what you need to do next, but could you please do something where you’re having a lot of fun and good things are happening to you? Like, just in general, I would like nothing but happiness for a Scoot McNary character. What about these darker, moodier roles is more attractive to you?

Scoot McNairy:

That’s a really good question and I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m that dark of a person, but I tend to like things or find a fascination with the darker side of life. I guess it’s more of an interest to me than I think and that it’s something that I keep finding myself in. I’d like to, you know, play something lighter. It’s just my fascination keeps bringing me to this other world. I feel that I’m not as familiar with that. I’d like to, sure.

Ben Miller:

That makes sense. I mean, I was looking through your filmography and I was like, I just need more of you pointing to a crocodile going like, “This guy…” like seemingly having fun.

Scoot McNairy:

And even Mr. Prim was a bit frustrated at times. I’m not having the best time.

Ben Miller:

Before we booked time for this interview, I was told you were off filming. I’m not about to imply what you’re filming or what figure you were portraying. But, in your career, you’ve been in back-to-back Best Picture winners. You’ve had a series of awesome seasons on anthology series. You’ve been shot in the head by Liam Neeson. Like, do you ever step back and just marvel at the place that you inhabit in your career?

Scoot McNairy:

Great question. I don’t know that I ever step back and marvel at the past and mostly in these interviews when you guys sort of bring it up. But I feel like I tend to just look forward to the present now. And like, what is to come? 2 years, 5 years from now, and I’ve realized that about myself that I don’t really spend remotely any time thinking about the past or focusing on the past or harvesting on the past. I just don’t…I don’t know. I think that that’s probably more of a probably a personality thing of me than something I strive for. That’s for sure.

But, I tend to…I just really like going after something. And so that’s more exciting to me than thinking about what’s in concrete that you can’t change. It’s out of your control. It’s in the past. I like to look towards the future to, you know, sort of navigate your own path or whatnot.

Ben Miller:

I saw an interview with Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Grant, and they were talking about the roles that people assume that they get bombarded with [in public]. Hugh Grant was saying, I assume people come up and are going to talk about Noting Hill, but in reality, they come to talk about About a Boy all the time. There are the movies that people assume they talk to you about or the roles and then there are ones that really connected with people Is there a role that people like to come up to you and be like, “Man, I love this so much,” that you never really expected to always have to talk about.

Scoot McNairy:

Man, you have great questions.

Ben Miller:

I appreciate that.

Scoot McNairy:

I don’t know if there’s a particular role, I don’t know. Narcos was a big show in Latin America. I spent a lot of time at Home Depot. And where I live, there’s a lot of Latinos in my neighborhood. I probably get stopped every time I go to Home Depot. But that’s kind of the only place that I feel like that, or that someone says anything to me. You know, that’s a great question, but I don’t know. I don’t know. I would say if anything, I probably don’t see enough people to get stopped enough to be told that!

Ben Miller:

It feeds into your every-man quality. I was telling a friend I was going to have this interview and he’s like, well, if you’re obviously going to follow interview protocol, but what, if you didn’t have the structure of need to have an interview, what would you say? I was like, well, I’d be talking about Killing Them Softly for as long as I possibly could. Like, that’s all I would want to talk about because that movie is awesome and you’re awesome in it. So like that kind of thing. Also, by the way, for being in Blonde, being in Killing Them Softly, the fact that you’re not in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, it feels like you should be.

Scoot McNairy:

I mean, look, Andrew Dominik was on my radar back when he did Chopper.

Ben Miller:

Oh, yeah!

Scoot McNairy:

I mean, you know, I auditioned for The Assassination of Jesse James, kicked as many doors as I could to try and be a part of that movie or to work with him. And so I was incredibly lucky and fortunate, that I was able to work with them on the next film. But yeah, I mean like, again, a masterpiece in filmmaking, Assassination of Jesse James and Casey Affleck was phenomenal in that, just so good and Sam Rockwell, I mean all that movie has so many of like some of my favorite actors in it…just a great film. Luckily I was able to be a part of the killing them softly. And it was like a huge, it was a big thing for me now. And at the time that I was just elated to be working with this group of people, and a filmmaker on such a cool story.

Ben Miller:

Well, Scoot, I very, very much appreciate you taking your time. I know you have a busy day. I thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Once again, congratulations on your film. You have an excellent performance in it and you should be very proud of it. I thank you once again.

Scoot McNairy:

Awesome, Ben. Hey, man, thanks so much for taking the time. It was appreciated and I enjoyed talking to you.

Blood for Dust opens in select theaters on Friday, April 19th

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