Ti West Talks 'In A Valley Of Violence,' Making Westerns, Future Projects, And More

Ti West has made a career out of deconstructing the horror genre with films such as “The House of the Devil,” “The Innkeepers,” and “The Sacrament.” Who would have thought that the 36 year-old writer-director would be making the best movie of his career by delving into the Western genre with Ethan HawkeJohn Travolta, Taissa Farmiga, James Ransone, and Karen Gillan along for the ride?

In A Valley of Violence” has Hawke’s mysterious pale rider Paul involved in a random act of violence that turns a small town, bossed by Travolta’s Marshal, into a violent mess. West directs this lovely, but absurdist, homage to the Western with a newfound energy and style we didn’t think he had in him.

READ MORE: SXSW Review: Ti West’s ‘In A Valley of Violence’ Starring Ethan Hawke, Taissa Farmiga, And John Travolta

The most surprising aspect of the film is how funny it is, clearly influenced by Sergio Leone‘s spaghetti westerns and West’s own brand of darkly comic thrills. It’s a ride that gallops into a cinematic territory with fresh new eyes and ears. With the film headed into cinemas this weekend, we spoke to West about “In A Valley Of Violence” and the mind-set he had going into this latest twisted cinematic endeavor.

In A Valley Of ViolenceWhat made you decide to shoot a western?
I love westerns. The western is the most classic genre in American cinema. It is very much part of the DNA of American filmmaking. I really wanted to be part of that tradition. Culturally things are great right now and more people seem to be open to many different genres. What fascinates me about Westerns is that they are set at a time and place when film didn’t exist so there isn’t really a concrete evidence of how things looked and felt back then, so you could definitely have your own vision up there.

READ MORE: First Trailer For Ti West’s ‘In A Valley Of Violence’ Starring Ethan Hawke, Taissa Farmiga, Karen Gillan & John Travolta

What’re the most challenging things about shooting a western?
Being out in the elements for 12 hours at a time. It wears you out. Outside of shooting, you are challenged to have modern audiences warm up to it. It’s not an easy sell, but once you give in to westerns, they are just such fun times at the movies. I’m really happy about the film we made.

Was it a different experience from your usual horror movie projects?
Not particularly. People shouldn’t really label these things either. No monsters came out of the ground, there were no demons hiding, it was just people acting like stupid people, and yet, this could be described as a “horror western” if you want to go there. Violence tends to make people uncomfortable… I wanted to flip archetypes on their head, and westerns still have all these unusual, but amazing archetypes.

ethan-hawke-in-in-a-valley-of-violence-2016How did you manage to land that cast?
I’m actually really lucky that every actor in the film was my first choice. Horror movies are a challenge to cast. Every actor wants to be in a horror movie, but no actor wants to be in a bad horror movie. With the western everyone wants to be in a western at least once in their career, there isn’t that stigma about being in a bad western as there is with the horror movies.

Was the shoot than your previous features given the A-list cast you had at your disposal?
Oh no, they were all easy going actors, super professional, down to earth — thinking back, it was such a surreal experience. They all wanted to disappear into their roles and they did. [Producer] Jason Blum set up a dinner with John Travolta so that I could pitch him the movie.

That must have been nerve-wrecking.
On top of that I was telling myself, “Oh my god, I have to convince John Travolta to do this movie. This is too much pressure.” But you could tell Travolta “got” the movie. And I was like “Travolta gets my movie and loves it. This is awesome.” He understood the tone of the film. The same thing happened with Ethan [Hawke]. He got it. It’s great to know that your cast gets the vision you’re after and would take part in creating and putting it on-screen.