The Thicket Interview: Leslie Grace, Gbenga Akinnagbe, & Levon Hawke Talk Western

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to The Thicket stars Leslie Grace, Gbenga Akinnagbe, and Levon Hawke. The trio discussed the fresh take on the Western genre, their characters, and more. Directed by Elliott Lester, The Thicket will be released in theaters on September 6.

“When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire.  Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly ‘no-man’s-land’ known as…The Thicket,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Leslie, just like today, we get to see your natural hair really on display in The Thicket. It is so cool to see in a Western, but it also signifies her escape and this starting anew for the character. So, what did you like most about that character development?

Leslie Grace: Yeah, man. That was really exciting for me to talk about with Elliot. Upon me joining this gang of brilliant folks, I was just like really excited to build a character with him, and from what you get to see of her. Because you see her before you get to really know her. She does have an evolution from when she’s originally first taken and we see her at the Saloon and then when Jack pretty much brings her into the gang, and she’s kind of liberated in trying to survive and being an ally to the guys.

So you see her kind of come into her own and her hair kind of come into her natural state. So I thought that it was really cool that we get to introduce that into the character and into this Western world where we rarely get to see women with their natural hair. It really helps me build the character from the outside in, in that sense. Because it’s hard not to feel like you’re in character when you look at yourself in the mirror and you’re someone else

Gbenga, I loved you in The Wire, and you’ve had some really great roles in TV and film, but I can’t recall ever seeing you in a Western before. So what’s it like getting to still be doing such fascinating and fresh roles decades into your career?

Gbenga Akinnagbe: First of all, wow. I guess I have been doing this for a while. I’m fortunate. I feel very fortunate. I still think about it as far as the roles I get to do. I get to do really cool projects for work with really good writers and actors. I try to make decisions so they’re not copies of one another; they’re different roles. But you can want to do that, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll get to do that. So I feel very fortunate that I get to do that. This is one of those roles, and this is one of those crews I get to work with them like, “All right, we’re doing some really cool, funky things and storytelling.” So I think The Wire was a great launching pad for that, so I’ve been very fortunate.

Levon, you have some romantic moments with Leslie in the film. How was it building that chemistry? In a film that’s very dark, it’s nice to see some hope and some nice scenes, rather than just people dying all the time.

Levon Hawke: What I loved about it is me and Leslie from the second we met, we were just great friends. What I think is really interesting about their relationship is it’s these two kind of lost, lonely people who really just come together, not out of necessity or some insane fire. It’s out of a desire for companionship and wanting to have someone to hold when it feels like they’re both risking their lives every day. I felt like we found as much romance as we did friendship, and I just think that’s a really cool thing to put in a movie like this.

Grace: Yeah, I think also that that relationship is they’re really allies to each other. Like they’re really holding each other down while everyone’s trying to survive. It is a lot of that friendship and wanting to make sure we’ve got each other’s back, you know? Jack helps Jimmy escape the saloon and, unbeknownst to her, has already seen her get taken, and he sees his sister in her. Then she’s kind of joining this gang of like, “All right, we gotta find your sister. I’m gonna hold my own. I’m not gonna be deadweight here.” So, I love that dynamic of their relationship, that it’s not just romantic as well.

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