Russell Baze (Christian Bale) and his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) were born and raised in Braddock, Pa., a hardscrabble Rust Belt town that has been home to generations of American steel workers. Russell followed his father into the mills, while Rodney took the only other option open to young men like him and enlisted in the Army, hoping to find a better life outside of Braddock.
But after four brutal tours of duty in Iraq, an emotionally and physically depleted Rodney returns to a recession-weary town that offers even fewer options than before he left. When a cruel twist of fate lands Russell in prison, his younger brother tries to make ends meet by betting on a vicious sociopath, Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson), the leader of a ruthless backwoods crime ring in the New Jersey Ramapo Mountains. When Rodney suddenly disappears shortly after his brother is released from prison, Russell descends into a corrupt and violent world seeking answers. Embarking on a road that few dare to travel, Russell will stop at nothing to bring his brother home. Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) from a script written by Cooper and Brad Ingelsby, Out of the Furnace also stars Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard, Zoë Saldana, and Forest Whitaker. I sat down with Casey Affleck in Los Angeles.
Danny Miller: Your performance as Rodney Baze in this film is so moving and intense. Rodney is such a damaged guy — what’s the process like for you to get your head into that place?
Casey Affleck: I spend a lot of time thinking about the script in the months leading up to the job, all the stuff around the character — what it would be like to go to combat in some faraway country and then come back home and not know how to cope. I think a lot about the history of the character beforehand and then hope that when I’m making the movie I can just react accordingly. Does that make sense? On the one hand you’re saying the lines you’ve memorized, but on the other hand, you’re doing this thing that you’ve been preparing to do for months and months.
I was so touched by the speech your character makes about coming back from war and not being supported here. Did you talk to a lot of vets?
I did, I talked to a bunch of vets from different wars, including Vietnam, and tried to understand what it was like for them when they came back here — how they must have felt betrayed, being asked to go and put their lives on the line and to put themselves through terrifying, traumatic situations for their country and then to come back home and find that people weren’t even willing to give them food stamps. It’s really hard for a lot of these people. You can’t get a job and no one wants to hear about what they went through in the war. That has to feel alienating and scary. A lot of these guys seem very lonely.
There was so much of this movie that reminded me of The Deer Hunter — almost like you guys could have been the kids of the characters played by Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken. Even the Pennsylvania town where you shot the film. I assume that town is a place that is truly in a horrible decline?
Yes. We shot the film in Braddock, Pennsylvania. There were mills there, it was a very thriving community at one time. They had their own amusement part, very nice homes, you can see that it was once a really nice place to live. Now it seems completely decrepit — there are trees growing out of windows. You see many whole blocks that are simply abandoned.
Wow. It seems like that area has been in its death throes even from the time The Deer Hunter was made in the 1970s.
It’s weird to see it, especially in this country. To see a place that was once a robust community that has now failed — it’s alarming because you think it could happen in other places here, too. It could spread like a virus.
At least shooting this film there brought in some revenue and activity.
Well, I think people were happy to have us there. I wish I could say that it makes a difference in the long term but it really doesn’t. On the other hand, there are a lot of artists and other people who are doing everything they can to bring places like that back to life. There are young people who think that it’s too expensive to live in Brooklyn or Portland so they buy a whole building in a place like Braddock and start doing their art there. It doesn’t fix the whole economy but it does start to bring life back to a place.
This whole world of bare-knuckled fighting that Rodney gets involved in — I had no idea that even existed.
Yep, it really does. A lot of them are guys who came back from the war. They’re not professional fighters, they’re just people who are angry and violent and want to make a little bit of money. These are very brutal, sloppy fights. I hate watching that kind of violence, I really do. My least favorite part of making this movie was having to watch that stuff.
How much of that did you have to actually do yourself?
I did a lot of training for it because I’m not the right body type. There was a big physical learning curve there but, of course, all the fighting was choreographed. Sometimes a little too choreographed for my taste, and I’d ask them to make it a little sloppier and more realistic. That always made people nervous because it’s much easier to get hurt that way. But we had really great stunt men; they were just incredible. They knew how to really sell the brutality but keep it safe and not get hurt by some idiot like me who’s punching them!
You and Christian Bale seem to have such a strong bond in this film. Did you two already know each other?
I didn’t know Christian at all and we did zero bonding before the film! But honestly, he is such a talented actor and so enthusiastic and committed that he made that bond feel real. If the chemistry between us works in this film, it’s attributable to Christian’s talent!
And then you have these great character actors like Woody Harrelson and Willem Dafoe. It must have been fun working with them.
They are just phenomenal. Think about the career someone like Willem Dafoe has had, all those great movies! I remember watching Wild at Heart when I was a kid — talk about scary! And then there he is in front of me (Affleck launches into a perfect Willem Dafoe impersonation): “When I say this line, how should I say it?” I was like, “Dude, you’re Willem Dafoe, you can do it however you want!”
The emotional intensity of your character is so high. I know you’re a skilled actor, but I wonder if your body always knows that you’re acting. Does it take time to recover from doing such scenes?
That’s a good question and you’re right — if something is any good you do start to feel the things that your character is talking about. If you don’t, then you probably better get into it a little more.
Does that ever get scary when you’re making a movie like this?
Not really. To be honest, it’s only scary when it’s not happening! That’s when I start to panic — when I’m not feeling anything!
Forgive me but as I was sitting down and Christian Bale was leaving the room, I couldn’t help but hear him ask you, “How are you dealing with this shit?” I assume that was a reference to the press day! Do you not like doing interviews?
No, I like talking about the films and supporting them — it’s just that I hate talking about myself. At the end of the day I want to tape my mouth shut after remembering all the things that I said to people!
Out of the Furnace opens today in select cities and will be playing in additional cities starting on December 6.