Driving large herds across hundreds of miles of open range may look romantic, but the reality is a lot more grueling and painful. The same is true of putting together a screen epic. All that sweep and grandeur usually comes at the expense of a few dings and bruises along the way.
On Sunday and Monday, AMC makes its first foray into longform original scripted programming with "Broken Trail," a two-part Western epic directed by Walter Hill ("The Long Riders") and starring Robert Duvall ("Lonesome Dove"), who's also an executive producer
The CBS miniseries "Lonesome Dove" is considered a classic of the Western genre, but Duvall says "Broken Trail" is, "better, yeah, and a better cast perhaps. From A to Z, I think it's a better cast than 'Lonesome Dove.' I don't know if anything will be like 'Lonesome Dove'; that was a happening. ... But this is a wonderful cast. I shouldn't really compare, I guess, but this is certainly equal to that cast."
Duvall plays Print Ritter, a veteran cowboy who sets out with his nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church), to drive a herd of horses from Oregon to Wyoming. Along the way, their paths cross with those of five enslaved Chinese girls.
When, out of a sense of decency, Print and Tom come to the aid of the girls, they put themselves at odds with the madam (Rusty Schwimmer) who bought the girls, and her agent (Chris Mulkey).
The writer on the project is Alan Geoffrion, a publishing-industry veteran who is moving into screenwriting and is a good friend and Virginia neighbor of Duvall.
"Every step of the way, I was in on the writing," Duvall says. "Then I was in on the writing to undo the writing of the so-called rewrite writer that they brought in. ... There were a lot of false promises laid down. I always said, 'Maybe instead of "Broken Trail," it could be called "Trail of Broken Promises."' I meant it."
With strong personalities like Duvall and Hill, disagreements and differing views are bound to happen.
As for how one directs Duvall, Hill says, "Very carefully. Listen, I've been a film director for a while. You have actors like this, and I know you're asking about Bob. It's a great privilege to go out there and try to block scenes together and make them work.
"You direct the way you direct, and every scene has its own problems. Every scene has its own truth that you have to try to find together."
Added into the mix is the fact that AMC had never put together a large, complex film project before. That, in a sense, made guinea pigs of the "Broken Trail" cast and crew.
"And a guinea pig we were," Duvall says. "What I'm saying is, we constantly had to fight, every step of the way. Let me put it this way: Their vision went off in one direction, completely different from ours. Then we had to maintain our vision."
Despite whatever differences had to be ironed out with the writing of the script and, after filming, the editing of the miniseries (Duvall hired an editor of his own at one point), Duvall says he enjoyed the shooting process, which took place in Alberta, Canada.
"Overall," he says, "it's been a strange experience but a wonderful experience, because the filming of it, the nine weeks, was wonderful."
