A prisoner risks everything for a second chance in the new drama, “The Weight.” The film stars Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, with plenty of trouble standing between one father and his goal.
Ethan Hawke [as Samuel Murphy]: “I got a daughter. In one month, she’ll be a ward of the state and up for adoption. Even with good time, I’m in here six more months.”
A prison sentence is already a heavy burden, but in “The Weight,” one man takes on an even bigger load.
He’s in a desperate race to get back to his daughter.
Ethan Hawke: “I’d never gotten to play, like, an old-fashioned good guy, a guy you’re really rooting for. Um, you know, it’s not some hallmark cutout idea. I mean, he’s, he’s a real flesh and blood person, but a person who has a code of ethics.”
Ethan Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, a convict accepting a risky deal to smuggle gold. Success through the deadly wilderness buys him an immediate early release.
Alec Newman [as Taggert]: “This gold is trouble. There are a lot of desperate folk who think this gold ought to belong to them. That ain’t happening on my watch. You men are gonna march it across the wilderness before anyone even notices it’s gone.”
This grueling gold rush came with plenty of rough terrain for the actual film crew.
Padraic McKinley: “It seemed like a good idea to have rivers and rope bridges and boulders and these sort of things on paper, but, you know, when you get to the realities of independent filmmaking, it, uh, it became a little more daunting, but, it was really, really enjoyable.”
Behind that beautiful backdrop, the on-screen journey transforms into a violent trap for the prisoners.
Russell Crowe [as Clancy]: “You’re getting mighty close to the bone. Keep chewing, you see what you find.”
Ethan Hawke: “When the shoot was over, we felt like we’d lived this movie.”
The characters faced a brutal fight for survival, and that may be the real weight of this story. A father risks everything for one last chance to get home.
Ethan Hawke [as Samuel Murphy]: “I don’t want your gold. I want my daughter.”
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