A retired rodeo legend (Neal McDonough) risks it all to save his grandson. Facing his own painful past and the fears of his family, he enters a high-stakes bull-riding competition as the oldest contestant ever. Along the way, he reconciles old wounds with his estranged daughter and proves that true courage is found in the fight for family.
Now available to rent or buy on VOD, The Last Rodeo director, Jon Avnet, spoke with Nick L’Barrow about collaborating with McDonough on a very personal story, and the focus on the family and friendship that was found in the bull riding community.
Nick: After watching the film, I checked out some interviews with Neal McDonough and yourself, and Neal spoke about how this was the most personal film he has made. I’m curious to know what the conversations with Neal were like when he gave the story over to you, and the collaboration that came from something so personal to him?
Jon Avnet: It’s interesting, we really didn’t talk about the things that led to him coming up with this idea. He wrote a pass with Derek [Presley, co-writer], and then he handed it to me and asked if I would want to make it my own. And once I read it, I really thought I could do something with it.
The personal DNA of it all came from this idea that he had of wondering what his life would be like with his wife. So there was this kind of authority that he brought to the film. He was ready to do this six months before we ever began shooting. He was in the room with me and the financiers, and he started getting emotional talking about this film. He was so prepared, and he really owned this story. I was just able to find my way into it and make it my own when he asked.
Nick: It was obvious watching you both talk about the film that you each share a strong reverence for each other, both personally and professionally. As someone who has a long, storied career in Hollywood – is that a rare thing to come across?
Jon Avnet: No. I think there are people– I mean look at Marty’s [Scorsese] and De Niro’s work. Or even Leo [DiCaprio’s] work with Marty. Soderbergh and Clooney. Clooney and Pitt! They’ve definitely found this shorthand that works for them.
For me and Neal, firstly, he’s a really good person. He’s a genuine person. What he believes, he believes. But I’ve also been directing for a long time, so I’ve chosen actors well and got very good performances out of them. So, I don’t have to do an awful lot. But, Neal has an instinct that worked very well with my style.
There was a scene where his character is watching footage from his wedding, and it was the real life footage of Neal and his wife. And I think most actors instincts would to be deep, dark, and melancholy. But I said to him, “Enjoy it. You’re seeing your wife again for the first time.” And he took that direction well, gave no words of dialogue, and it’s a moving scene. He trusted my, he played against it, and it made this pure magic.
Nick: The community of bull riding and rodeos is very much at the core of this film. What were the conversations like with this community in how to accurately bring their story to life on the screen?
Jon Avnet: I came in knowing nothing, which is typical. They were the experts and I was the pupil. I listened and I learned, and I wrote the script. I even got notes from the Head of Professional Bull Riding. A lot of people gave me notes, and I made the changes. After a while, I did feel like I knew and was almost a professional student [laughs].
But, it was one of those weird things where I’ve gone to so many different worlds, and people have been so open with me, you know, in terms of telling their stories – the good and the bad. I don’t know that I would trust anybody, but at the same time, I’m trustworthy. Maybe it’s just on some instinctual level on their part that they can feel like they trust me. But then you have to work hard enough for them to show them you realise where they’re coming from.
Nick: How did the Western genre influence the visual aesthetic of the film? It feels like there is a classic and contemporary genre influence at play here.
Jon Avnet: I’m a student of film, just like you. And I love so many of the Westerns. But, it was Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone that got me excited. Particularly the horse riding action and the guys in the bunk house. I think he’s very, very talented. He inspired me a lot.
I was really interested in this world. But, like an idiot, the first time I wore a cowboy hat, I put it on backwards. And the guys were there to fix it. They were very kind to me. I like their world. I like the family, the faith, the friendships. There’s something very genuine about this world. It’s a simpler world, but just because it is more simple, it doesn’t mean it is any less genuine or profound. And I really wanted to get that right.
The first shot of the film is actually something I came up with on the last day of filming. I just told Neal to look down, then tilt his head up and look into the camera. And you know, he’s looking at this big, black bull. And I was wondering whether I was just being a pretentious director, or whether it was going to actually work. But adding the sound of the bull, and changing the lighting, that presence of man vs bull is really felt there.
Nick: I mean, it works really well for the allegory of a bull being like life – all it’s trying to do is knock you down, and you can choose whether you want to get back on and keep riding…
Jon Avnet: Yeah, that’s what I hoped for. When you’re doing that kind of stuff, you’re never really confident at all. So I love hearing that. It’s nice to know your instincts aren’t off all of the time!
Thank you so much to Jon for his time, and to Angel Studios and NedCo PR for organising the interview. The Last Rodeo is available now on VOD.
