2018 will probably be a very memorable year for Zoe Kazan. The 35-year-old actress is best known for her roles in films such as “The Big Sick,” “Ruby Sparks” and the HBO mini-series “Oliver Kitteridge,” but she’s also an accomplished screenwriter. Kazan wrote the screenplay for “Sparks” and co-wrote the acclaimed indie “Wildlife” with husband Paul Dano that debuted at Sundance last January. She also has a major role in the Coen Brothers’ “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” which has earned rave reviews and, oh yeah, she’s a brand new mom.
A Netflix production, “Buster Scruggs” is an anthology film featuring six different stories set in the Old West. Kazan appears in the chapter titled “The Girl Who Go Rattled” about a young woman, Alice, who finds herself in a caravan traversing the Oregon Trail. When things take a turn for the worst she’s comforted by one of the caravan’s guides, Billy (Bill Heck). Eventually, Billy makes her an offer she isn’t expecting, but one she also might be forced to accept.
Kazan jumped on the phone last week to discuss filming “Buster Scruggs,” her experiences with directing pairs, her character Alice and what she might be doing next.
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The Playlist: So, my first questions is when the Coens call do you just say, “Yes,” no matter what?
Zoe Kazan: Yes! Yes. It’s an easy answer. If they had called me and been like, “There’s a one-line part and you’re going to be shot from behind. And it’s in Romania.” I would have been like, “Please, let me audition.” Anything they asked me to do, I would have jumped. But, you know, the part is so beautifully written and the whole segment is so gorgeous. And then reading the entire thing and this dream logic between these contemplations of mortality…it just seemed like nothing I’d ever read before. I felt so excited and, you know, had all of my extremities crossed hoping that I was the person they were looking for.
When it was first announced that the Coens were doing something with Netflix there was a lot of reports that it was television content. It wasn’t going to be “a film.” That classification changed when it was announced it was screening at Venice. When you were filming did you think that’s what you were making TV content or did you guys think you were making a movie?
No, we thought we were making exactly what is coming out now.
Really? Okay, so this is so interesting.*
I think it was just misreported, honestly. And I think, probably, everyone behind the camera didn’t care enough to correct anyone. The script I read is exactly what you see on screen now. I think it’s a very particular genre of film. There aren’t very many films like this in the world, so I’m sure that’s what added to the confusion.
Did the Coens tell you anything else about Alice that they didn’t put in the screenplay? Were there things they wanted you to know about her while you were shooting it?
No. First of all, there’s a tremendous amount of information in the script. So, I should just say that. They write like no one else, and most of the questions that I would have had the answers were right there either literally on the page or in the way that she was written. The way that she talked and how she responded to things. I think they receive language, sort of like the way that Mozart received music or something. It’s just so clear, right? So, I didn’t have a ton of questions, but they’re also not the kind of people I think who are interested in giving you an enormous amount of backstory. What you see on the page is sort of what you get. They’re lovely people. They were open to conversation, but I don’t feel like they had a lot that they needed to add to me.
You’d worked with directing pairs before. How did they work as a team compared to “Ruby Sparks'” Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Varis?
Totally differently in some ways and in some ways not. People always ask, “Is one person dealing the camera, and one person’s dealing with the actors?” And that’s not true of either of them. You know, both partnerships are sort of working like one organism I would say, they’re also probably similar in that they seem complementary but not the same, you know? Jon and Val mirror each other, but they’re very different people from each other. I feel like with Joel and Ethan you feel their hand in this really almost invisible way throughout the set. Like, they’ve worked with the same collaborators so often for the last twenty, thirty years that they don’t have to have that many conversations on set all the time. Whereas, Jon and Val feel more like kids in a sandbox or something. There’s something really where they’re like have their sleeves up with the actors and are like almost bouncing around the set. It’s just a very different energy. One thing that they do have in common, though, I’ll just shout is that they’ve both worked with some of the same creative teams, including like [producer] Bob Graf who I love so much. So, there were some familiar faces on set for me having made Ruby Sparks with them.
Where did you shoot your particular chapter?
We shot it in Western Nebraska, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life. I highly recommend going there. And, you know, like on our days off, Bill Heck and Grainger Hines and I would just, like, drive around. And we drove up to Rushmore and saw one of our great pieces of national art. We went swimming in the lakes and we had a great time. It’s a really beautiful part of the world.
You starred in Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff,” so you’ve made westerns before, but was this one difficult comparatively?
Not compared to “Meek’s.” I mean, “Meek’s” I felt like we were having the experience. You know like shooting on the salt flats of Oregon. It would be like a two-hour drive from where we staying in Burns, Oregon, to set. And we had pack vans break down one after another because they were, like, choked with saline dust. You know, it was not a cushy experience in any way, shape, or form. And then there was this, but this was definitely less roughing it than that was. You know, you’re still like in the middle of nowhere in a beautiful way. And we would be shooting on these 40,000-acre cattle ranches under this enormous Nebraska sky. And I don’t know, it’s, you’re looking all around, and there’s nothing there except for these Conestoga wagons. It’s very easy to get lost in the experience.
So, I wanted to ask specifically about the story without giving too much away. Bill’s character, Billy Knapp clearly falls for Alice. Do you feel any of that is requited by the time we get to the end or is he a means to an end in the most positive way possible?
Well, you’d have to ask Bill that. How I read what I see on the screen and, I guess, what I saw on the page is that I think both of these people are making a practical decision. But, I think something starts to happen between them that feels like oh, maybe there’s something more than practicality that will happen here. Maybe something wonderful will happen here between these two people. You know, I think you start to see it in their last two scenes together, a kind of like feeling of something’s happening between them, something, mutual respect or admiration, or they’re meeting somewhere. Like they’re really seeing each other. That’s my experience of it, at least. But I also think that we have a different notion about romance now than they probably did then. And I think marriages of convenience were just more the norm.
Was there one other chapter you were most curious to see once the film was finally finished?
Yeah. I have a real deep place in my heart for the “Meal Ticket,” the Harry Melling, Liam Neeson chapter. That truly speaks to me as an artist. It feels really true and terrible, and I was so curious because the Coens have such a remarkable way with language. I’d say 90 percent of the language in that chapter is Shakespeare. So, I was really curious how that would work. And then, also, I was super-curious about the last chapter, which is almost “Twilight Zone”-y and felt like really execution-dependent in a way that was exciting to me. And it’s the one that feels the most different than it felt on the page to me.
What I love about “Meal Ticket” is it left me wanting to know more about the character’s backstories more than any other chapter. I wanted to know where the artist came from, how he got there, was he born that way? It was the one that left me with the most questions in a good way.
Yeah, me too.
Well, the last thing I have before I let you go is I know you’re a new mom, and congratulations on that, but do you know what you’re doing next? Have you been working any new screenplays or are you just concentrating on your new addition?
I do know what I’m doing next. I can’t talk about it yet, but I’m pretty excited about it about it. And, yeah, hopefully, you’ll see it.
Can you tell us if you’re writing more or …
I am. I am writing.
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“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is now playing in limited release. It launches on Netflix on Friday.