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Audiences may bonk Josh Stewart for his role in the cult horror series , The Collector , or his scenery - stealing twist asJohn Pilgrimin time of year 2 ofThe Punisher , in which he go toe - to - toe with Jon Bernthal ’s Frank Castle in some of the most visceral fight tantrum ever seen in the MCU . However , he ’s recently start to make a name for himself as an auteur filmmaker . His first feature as a writer / manager / champion , The Hunted , earned congratulations for its sincere mix of horror and character back in 2013 , and now Stewart is back for his second movie , the introspective West Virginia dramatic play , Back Fork .
InBack Fork , Josh Stewart play Waylon , a man struggling with the immeasurable heartache of his daughter ’s death . His man and wife is hang apart and he ’s ineffective to phrase his feelings thanks to an old - timey , cult - like adherence to his own maleness . His blue - arrest occupation as a manual laborer in the logging industry – and all the physical strain and back painful sensation that comes with it – leads to easy admission to pain medicine , which leads to a severe addiction .
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As much as it ’s a tale about a man ’s struggle with drug dependance , Back Forkis also about any homo ’s struggle with themselves and the people around him . It ’s about the toxic masculinity that prevents " tough guys " from communicating their feel with the people around them , even when that seemingly round-eyed act of unfeigned communication is all that stand between life and death . It ’s about how that broken , archaic thinking is fall down from father to boy , and the awful specialty of pith that ’s required to intermit the Hz and make things better , to move forward , rather than just stomach in position .
While promoting his film , Josh Stewart spoke to Screen Rant about the radical ofBack Fork , the looker of his home res publica of West Virginia , and the pressure that fare with writing , directing , and asterisk in a film . During the nearly forty - arcminute phone interview , we discussed drug addiction and why he felt the need to separate an honest story about how small towns in rural field have been dead devastate by this corporate - patronise epidemic . He dissect complex characters and individual scene , and contribution how working with Christopher Nolan on movie likeThe Dark Knight RisesandInterstellarinfluenced his approach to delegating responsibility on his own films .
lease ’s talk aboutBack Fork . This is your 2nd film as a author / director . To many , you ’re best known as an actor . When did you determine to start writing your own parts ?
You know , it ’s really tough to say . I ’ve always pen short stories . I consider myself more of a author than anything . I cognize my credit do n’t back that up , but I think , if you ’re a storyteller , it ’s base from a writing standpoint , know what I mean ? The two films that I have made have been really personal to me for mint of unlike reasons . It seemed natural that I would act in them , as well .
You said they ’re both very personal , but they ’re also very unlike . Back Forkis not a found - footage revulsion picture show , but it still has that same visceral push asThe Hunted . Both flick were shot and are limit in West Virginia , your home state .
My taste perception in cinema and my taste in characters to bet are definitely more in line with what you see inBack Fork . That ’s always been my first and true dearest . With The Hunted , that was a write up that me and my roommate in college sort of experient . From that standpoint , it was equally as true and told from a truthful shoes . They ’re similar in that way , but , like I tell , whatBack Forkis , tonally , in term of character and everything , that ’s more of my statement . develop up in West Virginia , I think , in a wad of ways , those citizenry back there are forget people . And I conceive that ’s the case for a lot of minuscule Town and small community across America . There ’s an amazing grouping of creative person back that way , artisan , craftsmanship makers , musician , and everything . That well is deep . And , just cinematically speaking , West Virginia is one of the most beautiful places in the domain . Between the mint and the rivers and the landscape , it ’s breathtaking . From a cinematic standpoint , it ’s really not been touched . It ’s just not something where Hollywood is flocking to West Virginia to make moving picture , which is all okay and majuscule for me , because I can go back there and make my movies . There ’s not a building in business district Los Angeles that has n’t been in a thousand movies .
InBack Fork , you get so much fuel consumption rate out of West Virginia , as much in setting of eternal mountains as in scene of a house with green grass around it or a pristine main street , which is just as picturesque , in its means .
Right . You recognise , look , I cogitate it ’s what most of the creation can connect to in so many dissimilar way of life . Even if you look at the population of city , a mass of that population is made up of people who ’ve come from these case of stead . From that standpoint , it ’s something that I know is relatable when I ’m traveling , literally , around the world , act upon as an actor . It ’s a mutual space you’re able to find within anyone .
shoot in moving picture in West Virginia , is it like return home and sharing what you get a line in New York and Hollywood , or is it like bringing those people home and saying , " This is who I am ? "
I think they ’re kind of one and the same . Writing stories about what I know , about the people I know , inherently , it ’s me . If you ’re effectual enough as a storyteller , you ’re gon na bring people in and show them something they did n’t realize . I intend they kind of go mitt - in - hand . I sic out to try out to tell a unfeigned story about real mass with tangible issues that are go on . If that sucks people in , then great ! I think , if you ’re working from the outside in , to me , you just run into the peril of being trivial or color over what it is . You know , I do n’t wish if it’sThe Punisher , orBack Fork , orThe Hunted , orBatman , if the characters are real and they ’re tell in a truthful way , then the people are along for the ride . If you do n’t have someone you handle about in that world , then it really does n’t matter . The way I come near anything , from acting to writing to direct , I do it from the privileged out . You hope that you do it properly and truthfully , and that the people will be do along for the drive .
The cyberspace secern me you did theater in West Virginia before you moved to New York City . You order you ’re a narrator , an creative person . When you interact with other storyteller , do you find camaraderie on that floor , or is there a unlike energy when you ’re working with artists from West Virginia in particular ?
I conceive it ’s unlike no matter where you ’re at . I think truthful artist , no matter what they are … The only affair that separates us from everybody else is our voice and our view . Inherently , I think , everybody is going to bring in something dissimilar to the table . And , of course of action , somebody who was bear and raised in The Bronx who is an actor , or was born and raised in Los Angeles , or Russia , or wherever , that ’s conk to avail to form your instincts and who you are as a individual . To me , that ’s what directs us into this humanity in which we ’re create . There is a common place there , but I think , really , the only thing we have as creative person is our sand , our inherent aptitude . That ’s the only thing that separates me as an actor or a writer or director from everyone else . It does influence , where you come from , but I think we all speak a common language . The thing , to me , that makes artist interesting , is unpredictability . That surprise of which way they take something , the focus they go . Or the fashion they come near a part from an performing standpoint . I think that common language is being able to listen and take it in , peculiarly from an acting standpoint . For anybody that ’s consume art , or play off of someone else ’s art , if you ’re not take heed or reply , then it ’s not true , know what I think ?
I think there ’s a flock of that inBack Fork . It ’s very central to West Virginia , but the topic and subject matter are more and more universal across the United States and the globe . The elephant in the elbow room is opiate addiction , which has apace become a home epidemic . Did you set out to pen a story about grief and dependency , or did you set up out to write a write up about West Virginia , and did that just naturally , regrettably , become part of it ?
I do n’t know that I necessarily set out to say one or the other . In this tarradiddle , there is grief . There is loss . There is beloved . And there is addiction . It ’s a melding of all those things . Again , I just go back to trying to create true , fair characters . Being from West Virginia , and encounter what ’s happened there , and certainly what ’s blend in on all around the country , that backdrop of the opioid epidemic , was just sort of the perfect place to set this world of heartbreak and loss and redemption .
I had a Vicodin prescription for a couple of months in my past times , and I was latterly in the hospital fix tons of morphia and Percocet , but I ’ve been extremely lucky that I never had any withdrawal method or addiction or anything like that , but I think it add up down to luck that it did n’t get its bait in me . There ’s just no rhyme or ground as to whether you ’re prone to addiction .
You just did n’t have the gene , world , you do it what I mean ? That ’s the biggest thing . From my personal perspective , of growing up back that path , there ’s a slew of manual labor movement in West Virginia : coal miner , loggers , severely - bring people who are given this matter . And you know as well as I do , if you go to a Dr. , the doctor will say , " This is what ’s incorrect with you , this is what you need to do , " most people are go to do it .
Yeah , and in lieu where everyone does these jobs that bust their backs , fall apart their knees … Sooner or later , everyone ’s gon na find out whether or not they ’ve got a predisposition towards addiction in their bones .
Look , humanity , over my lifespan of sports , I ’ve had five OR on ankles and knees and shoulder ; there ’s always a steady flow of that if you so choose . I ’m not one to get political about things , but I do n’t think it ’s a coincidence that these small community are targeted by big pharmaceutical companies . We ’re seeing that Purdue , one of the manufacturers of OxyContin , is being sued by and having to ante up the people in these communities large sums of money . There ’s only one way for these pill to get out there . I mean , you have to have a prescription drug for them . Someone has to have a prescription for them , or someone who has them uncommitted to them , or who can write a prescription drug .
dead .
The doctor ’s not order you cocaine for your problem . They ’re surely not prescribing you a bag of crack , or diacetylmorphine . If you need that , you go to the person you require to get that from . There ’s definitely a lot of grey area there , and a mint of blurred lines . I guess a quite a little of people made a lot of money .
Something inBack Forkthat strike me is how openly the characters talk about drugs . It ’s not like it ’s something where they go whisper in a corner ; they ’re just walk down the street talking about , " Hey , you get laid you’re able to buy a prescription medicine for a few grand . " There ’s no mystery .
That ’s the crazy affair . There ’s nothing in this script that I ’ve not either witnessed or find out account about . It ’s absolutely true . For money ; you’re able to just pay someone to give you a prescription that ’s worth triple that on the street . Someone can course their own dependence and make money to continue the cycle . These pills come from a pharmacy . The only way to get into the chemist’s shop to get them is to have a prescription for them . That ’s the root of it . It ’s less tabu , I reckon , because it is coming from a doctor in some capacity . It ’s talked about , it ’s discussed . The only time it ’s not talk over is if you ’re walking into a prevention and you ’re buying it from someone who does have a prescription . Then it select on the life sentence of any other sort of drug deal , or however you require to phrase it .
Speaking about drug dealers , I need to talk about Wade Williams ( Prison Break ) . I kind of take confirmation on this ; he ’s a nice guy , ripe ?
Oh , he ’s the undecomposed .
Okay ! Phew ! I was mostly kidding , but he ’s so convincing , I just had to make indisputable . He is atrocious in this ! In a good way , though .
As actors , when you are pose something , and Wade is the perfect representative of this , I was teach that a show , a movie , a child’s play , is a puzzle . There ’s 500 piece to the puzzle , and those bit are actors , crew , everybody who is involved . And you have to understand the pic . You have to understand the big picture of it so you could put the puzzle together . Then you could understand how your piece equip . That means , sometimes , actors or whoever , you have to play the bad guy rope , or you have to do this or that . You ’ve got to play that piece . You ca n’t manipulate the piece , or it ’s not going to gibe into the rest of the puzzle . Wade translate what it was . He understood each piece of it . He did n’t endeavor to reverse his character into a overnice cat . But the affair he did which was brilliant was , he developed these feeling . His eccentric in reality manage for the girl . cede , he went about it the wrong way of life , how they make into their situation , but he played that truthfully . He brought a degree of the true to it where that evil came from somewhere , but then had somewhere to go . That ’s what made it so interesting .
You ’re the author , you ’re the theatre director , you ’re the star . That ’s a ternary scourge , that ’s triple the responsibility . You ’re the individual who , like you said , has to see the whole picture and relay that picture to everybody to check that everything ’s going straight . And this is only your second film , but it look like you ’ve been doing it forever . Can you talk a little about the responsibleness that gets put on your shoulders ?
To be honest with you , whether it ’s writing , directing , or play , they found everything they do on the book . So , you have to have an sympathy of what the narration is on an intimate spirit level . Writing the textile , I have flesh out every character . I have fleshed out the world . I have flesh out the story . I ’ve done it from every angle in the process of writing . When it amount time to act it , my prep is already done . That ’s what I do when I ’m represent in something ; I flesh it out altogether . What ’s the storey ? What ’s the Hoosier State and outs of the narration ? Who ’s my character ? How does he fit into the humans ? If I ’m pen that , I ’ve already done all that work . When the time comes to step in front of the photographic camera and act , the work is already done . To a certain degree , from a directing point of view , the study is done , as well , because I ’m so intimately knowledgeable about the world , the character , and the level . At that percentage point , it ’s just communicating to my stateless person , to the producers , to the production decorator , to costume , to everybody . It ’s just have a conversation about what I ’ve already worked out .
That pre - production process seems really significant !
The self-aggrandizing affair I ’ve learned over the years is , the more prepared you are , and the more clear you are about what you need with regards to the fib from a directing standpoint , the easier it is to hire the right people that have bought into that . Then , you could just let them do their job . If I ’m aim and I ’m wishy - watery , and I do n’t acknowledge what it is that I want or I do n’t have a full understanding of it , that leaves room for questions from every angle . You get laid , and that goes back to the writing . It ’s something that I know on an sexual layer , so I can pass along it in a clean and concise way . The crowing matter I learned fromChris Nolan , working with that hombre a few times , the clotheshorse know what he wants . He can pass on that in such a cleared and concise way to everybody . Then , he can lease the right soul and just allow them do their job . He does n’t have to concern about it " on the twenty-four hour period . " You lie with , when you ’re film , there are five million attack that take to be put out on a casual foundation , I do n’t give care if you have two hundred and fifty thousand dollar or two hundred and fifty million dollar to make your movie . But if you ’ve charter the correct multitude , and they know what it is you want , you’re able to just allow them do their task . You ’re there to give them a little jog here and there , but we ’re not trying to ramp up it from scratch on the day .
You macro manage so you do n’t have to micro manage .
That ’s utterly right . It ’s like acting , adult male . If I get it on who my fictitious character is and I know the scene , when I show up and I ’m ready to act , then I just have to listen and reverberate off of the other thespian . The set is opened and quick to playact . It ’s no dissimilar from a directing standpoint . You know what you desire , you know what ’s need . Then you communicate that , and by the time you show up to do it , you may just grow the cameras on and dally .
There ’s a wakeless scene near the end where your character ’s dad all but breaks down trying to get your grapheme to get the supporter he so urgently needs . He ’s a very old - timey macho guy , and it ’s the closest that sort of someone can get to begging . It moved me to tears . I imagine it ’s passably world-wide , that idea of it being just so hard to talk to your dad about some things . Did you draw on your relationship with your own family while writing those scene between Waylon and Bill ?
I do n’t have it off that it ’s … I do n’t sleep together that I was specifically drawing from my own personal relationships , but again , just playing into , as you tell , those universal truth . peculiarly growing up in those types of place , men are provider and shielder . When you have that , I think talking about your feelings and those type of thing , it ’s just not something that really happens . I think the whole world would be better off , certainly family would be secure off , if people could just talk before it got to the point of being so dire . Communication would be better if we talked about our tactile sensation , if we understand that it ’s alright to have those feeling and it ’s alright to talk about those feelings . It would n’t be so bad if we ended up in that place . Maybe , a lot of meter , we would debar those situations altogether .
Yeah , like , Waylon ’s dad , in the whole first two - thirds of the moving-picture show , is just kind of going , " Ah , do n’t worry about it , everything will be hunky-dory , do n’t worry about anything . "
Right . That dynamic , where I ’m from , is true . The mother is the head of the sign of the zodiac in a lot of ways . The father is the supplier and guardian , but the mother start the show . They ’re the ones who are doing everything , who depute , who decide what needs to be portion out with , who read , " You call for to go out there and speak to him . You take to tell him it ’s hunky-dory and he can stay here . " In the story , the Father of the Church is thinking all these things . But he just usurp , " of trend he knows that ! " ahead of time on , when the mother sends him out there , what does he do ? He talks about the stock certificate truck land the trout . He talk about anything other than what needs to be talked about . And he waits for his out and sees his daughter coming and lead , " oh , okay , well , you’re able to stay here if you want to , I ’m gon na go see if supper ’s ready . " All of that , from a writing standpoint , I wanted to set it up early so it meant something when he sits down and says , " heed , I ’m no near at talking . I never have been . But you’re able to be better than me . "
That ’s such a beautiful scene .
I ’m a father . I have two piddling kids . A lot of that was based on , or came from , that dynamic , of what I want to be for them . It ’s prosperous to act as into the stereotypes of masculinity . It ’s natural , well-to-do , when we ’re uncomfortable , or in situations we do n’t really know , to just make for all that with you . It ’s your armour , it ’s your protection .
It ’s fight or flying , puffing out your chest and pass away , " Everything ’s hunky-dory . "
Right right right ! I think that ’s sort of the natural affair that bechance . So , to me , it ’s got to be alright for that to happen , but it also has to be alright for the other to pass off , as well , to say , " I am the provider and the guardian , but listen , " I always tell my small fry , " it ’s alright to be upset , it ’s alright to be hurt , and it ’s alright to cry . " Those thing are always okay . They ’re always fine and no one ’s going to think less of you for them . But we have to talk about these thing . We have to be intimate that it ’s alright . We have to know that , to be a man , you have to be a man . The other side of that is , if you have look , you do n’t want to press them down into some dark place where you ’re never going to hear from them again .
It must have been dream to get David Selby in that role . I mean , I used to watch a lot ofDark Shadowswith my dada …
Yeah . David Selby is a West Virginia man !
Oh , he is ?
Yup . We shot in the town he grew up in . He ’s from Morgantown , West Virginia . I had never met David before . And my manufacturer were like , " what about David Selby , " and I was like , that could be great . And we convey it up to Laray Mayfield , our ramble director , who also castThe Punisher . She was like , " I sleep together the idea , there ’s nobody better for this Book of Job . " He just knocked it out of the park . I knew , too , a man from that region would completely 100 % understand who that fictional character is , where he ’s coming from , and when it gets to that point in the movie , where he ’s saying , " I ’m no good at talking , " he knows it . He see it .
That picture really just connect the whole moving-picture show together . I feel like any variety and it could have been too sappy or insincere , but it works wholly . 100 % .
We just keep the camera choke . I act that whole vista from one side , with a diffused foreground . It ’s all right there .
I ’m glad you mentioned that . I had the imperativeness screener , and when that panorama terminate , I rewound it and then watched the whole scene again looking at you , because the first time I was looking at him and both of your grimace are in the single , unploughed jibe , and I just want to watch it again . You just see an full role arc , an epiphany you ’ve been waiting for , you’re able to see it on your face . It ’s so amazing .
give thanks you , adult male . When we were there , shooting on the twenty-four hours , there was talk about doing coverage of me , and all this other stuff and nonsense , and I was like , no , I do n’t want to do it . So we sprout the other side , the same thing from the other side ( to ease back - and - forth cuts ) so we have it , but I ’m not pushing in , I ’m not covering in , we ’re not doing unaired - ups , we ’re not doing anything . We ’re going to capture both of them , and the whole show is the right way there , know what I have in mind ?
The whole movie is antic , but that vista is a triumph , I truly believe that .
I appreciate that . To me , it ’s so indicative of everything , of the reasonableness Waylon end up with his wife . She sound out it : " You do n’t say anything , you do n’t tell me how you feel . You have nothing to say until you get furious and blow up . " It ’s the only clip the great unwashed speak . The father knows that . He understands it . He knows where it ’s come from . He understands that it was clear down to him and he ’s passed it down to his son . To me , that ’s the root of what it is . That ’s why he say , " You ’ve got to be better than me . " That ’s what you ’re supposed to do , you ’re supposed to be better than me . And he knows that he did n’t have the tools to pass down to him , so now he ’s eventually at the point where he just has to tell him .
That ’s it . That ’s a dissertation . And I think we can all colligate to that . It ’s a different kind of manual DoL , but my dad was a New York City bus driver for 17 days . He ’d do home every day sore and washed-out , altogether wear down out from the creaky suspension and break shocks on those buses , and the deep pothole on the streets of the South Bronx , so there ’s definitely that blue dog collar aesthesia , and his dad did it , too ; in fact , he did it before there even were buses in New York City , he was a trolley wheeler dealer !
That ’s right valet de chambre , it ’s gruelling work .
And here I am , I do n’t even lie with how to drive !
( laughs ) Let me enjoin you something . I just was in Canada with my fiancé , and she just finished working , so we move her back to Los Angeles from Vancouver . We repel back . At the end of the six or eight hour private road , I could n’t move . I could n’t stand up , I could n’t move . My back feel broken . I can only imagine doing that every single day , day in and day out for eight to twelve hr a day . You had might as well be heap lumber all sidereal day .
I recollect it wrecks you in a similar elbow room .
Oh piece , of course it does .
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Back Forkis available now on Digital and On Demand .
