Due West Starring Adrianne Palicki and Henry Thomas Premiers @DIFF This Week! Check Out Our AdChat DFW Interview

Evan: Well, I always figure the artist’s job is to walk about their culture with their ear to the ground and really listen, not to the noise as much as to the vibrations. And if you do that, a lot of times the stories find you. And this was one of those.  

My wife and I try to spend some time out in far West Texas whenever we can. It’s the kind of thing that’s good for the soul. On one trip, we found ourselves striking up a conversation with a local woman. And, I’ll tread lightly here because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble or even reveal too much, but there was a group of people out there helping women in trouble. They were doing this work at great personal risk. It really was one of those “heroes don’t always wear a cape” moments. 

After I got home I shared what I had learned in those few weeks out there with my writing partner, Hardy Janson, and we got to work. 

AdChat DFW: How did West Texas shape the tone and message of the film?

Evan: I was born and raised in the Panhandle of Texas—so West Texas is in my blood. And I wanted the film to have that authentic sense of place. I really viewed it as a chance to get small town Texas (and America) right, which sadly we in the entertainment industry seldom do. To me, the richness of small town America is that it’s all the parts of American society forced to interact together. You can’t hide in your enclave. You don’t have the excuse of disconnection. I can’t think of a better palette for a storyteller, but I might be biased. 

Then of course we shot in Marfa, Alpine and Marathon and those landscapes certainly play a part—all that vastness. The beauty of it. Also the loneliness. The isolation. You can’t pay for that cinematic value, you just have to go out there and capture it. 

AdChat DFW: Annie Palicki delivers a powerful lead—what drew you to her for the role?

Evan: Adrianne and I had worked together on a short film called “Thoughts and Prayers.” She gave an incredible performance which made me think, as often happens in Hollywood, here is an actress whose talents are being criminally underutilized. So we wrote this part in “Due West” specifically for her. And boy, did she ever deliver. 

AdChat DFW: Due West touches on timely issues for women—what conversations do you hope it sparks?

Evan: Well, you really hit it there. We want to start honest, good-faith conversations. That’s the thing we are trying to do. Somewhere along the line we all forgot how to talk to each other. You know, a conversation involves questions instead of just saying, “here is the answer, and you better agree with it.” We didn’t want a film like that. Whether it’s the city/rural divide or judgement and religion or women’s issues, we hope the film provides a path for us to get back to adult conversation instead of yelling at each other from across the internet. 

AdChat DFW: What challenges or surprises came up during production?

Evan: When you are making a real low-budget film, it’s all challenges. Just a day-to-day fight to get every dollar up on the screen and do right by the story you are telling. 

That being said, we have a oner in the film. Which of course, is very technically difficult, but this oner is also very performance-based and then to top everything off, the afternoon we were supposed to shoot it, during lunch it started to rain. So, I was sitting there, knowing I wouldn’t have the money to come back the next day if it didn’t stop, just watching it rain in the desert. And then suddenly it stopped, with just enough time to get three chances at it. Lo and behold, we got it on the last take, and the fact that it was raining even gave us this wonderful little gift we wouldn’t have had otherwise. But I won’t spoil what that was for people. 

AdChat DFW: What does it mean to premiere Due West at DIFF, right here in Texas? 

Evan: Well, I don’t want to try and out Texas anyone else’s Texas, but our film is certainly Lone Star through and through. It was made in Texas, by Texans with Texas investors. Let me put it this way, even people who did come in from out of state to do the movie, well,they grew up in Texas. So, it just wouldn’t feel right to premiere anywhere else, and we couldn’t be more thankful to James and the city of Dallas for giving us that opportunity.