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TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL

WATCH: Jesse James behind the scenes

Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Kimberley French/Courtesy of Warner Bros.

(posted 9/20/07)

As the younger brother of a Hollywood leading-man–director–Oscar-winning-screenwriter, Casey Affleck must know a thing or two about being the sibling not always taken as seriously as his elder and working to find his moment in the sun. In The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, he plays the titular Ford who, at age 19, was brought into the fraternal inner circle of America's most notorious outlaw of the late 19th century.

Ford had admired James (played by Brad Pitt in the film) since childhood, devouring comics and newspaper reports about his hero. His story is one of adoration, anger, jealousy, and a burning desperation to become the iconic figure he so worshipped. Affleck, however, plays that damaging array of emotion with such subtlety that the character's earnest criminal aspirations seem almost redemptive next to James's sociopathic behavior. He delivers a performance so nuanced yet affecting, in fact, that whispers of his Oscar worthiness are making the rounds. A win would bring a second Academy Award into the Affleck family, after older brother Ben's screenwriting award for Good Will Hunting.

After reading Ron Hansen's novel, writer-director Andrew Dominik (who last directed Chopper in 2000) set out to demystify the legend of James as the revered swaggering robber-bandit, as well as the public persona of Ford as a spineless coward. In pursuing the director's vision of Ford, Affleck honed his horse-riding skills and learned how to pack a Colt .45, while filming in freezing winter weather in Calgary and Winnipeg, Canada.

The actor, back in Canada to support Jesse James at the Toronto Film Festival, discussed deconstructing the Jesse James myth, his admiration for Pitt's tireless work ethic, and how he gained inspiration from an old photograph.

What was it like spending a winter in minus-13-degree weather?
It was at times unpleasant. I grew up in Boston. It gets pretty cold there, too. I am used to it. I am always thrown when it's December, and it's 70 degrees in L.A., so it was nice to get in the snow again. It is just breathtakingly pretty out there — in some places up there in the mountains. Parts of the country up there are so beautiful.

The cast had varying degrees of gun-slinging and horseback riding skills. What were yours like?
Not as good as Brad. Not as bad as Sam Rockwell. Let's put it that way. Nah, I was all right. I just didn't seem to have much of a relationship with my horse. He just didn't seem to like me all that much. Or care about me. Winston Churchill said there is something about the outside of a horse and the inside of a man — which is definitely true. There is something about the way that horses look when you see them out there running around. They touch you. But I don't think there is anything about the way I look that touches the horse. (laughs) I don't think he really gave a shit about me. So I had some problems getting him to do what we needed to do. But, listen, I understand. If I had a horse on my back I wouldn't want to be doing what he has to.