WORDS PHIL DE SEMLYENDirector David Mackenzie
and writer Taylor Sheridan
share seven secrets behind
Hell Or High Water’s successHIGH
WATER
MARKS
1 BUILDING CHEMISTRY
A four-hander with Jeff Bridges and Gil
Birmingham as laconic cops on the trail of
bank-robbing brothers Chris Pine and Ben Foster,
Hell Or High Water offered an immediate kind of
alchemy that made it stand out as one of the best
ilms of last year. “Usually there are big ights in
casting,” says screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, “but
here it just seemed obvious. The chemistry worked
so well, and you care about these characters.”
Having the pairs shoot their scenes in two separate
blocks in New Mexico added depth to their
dynamics, explains director David Mackenzie.
“The irst half was a real adrenaline ride with the
young ones, because we shot so quickly, but we
found lots of lovely pleasures in that second odd
couple.” Bridges and Birmingham took their
guitars along to screenings of the cut-in-progressand serenaded the cast and crew. “There was a
real sense of family,” remembers Mackenzie, “and
I know that fed into the chemistry on camera.”2 DODGING CLICHÉS
A devoted cineaste, Mackenzie took inspiration
but not direct inluence from ilms like Charley
Varrick, Thunderbolt And Lightfoot and McCabe
& Mrs. Miller. “I’m not a fanboy director,” he
stresses. “I’m highly attuned to clichés and was
quite keen to avoid them.” Each of the ilm’s
bank robberies plays out in unexpected ways.
Smaller characters lend texture in surprising
standout moments, as when a routine diner scene
is stolen by Margaret Bowman’s crotchety
waitress. “In the script she’s just ‘Waitress’,” says
Mackenzie, “but Margaret called her Maisie and
gave her an enormously elaborate backstory.”Sheridan lauds the director for not varnishing the
ilm with a Hollywood gloss. “There’s a lack of
sentimentality to the way David directs,” he
stresses, “and that was really important for this.”3 CRANKING UP TENSION
The stakes are perilously high for Pine and
Foster’s Howard brothers. Jail, or worse, awaits
them if their plan unravels. “There’s a line where
someone says, ‘You don’t do these things and live
to spend the money,’” recalls Mackenzie. One
robbery ends with the pair discovering they’re far
from the most heavily armed customers in the
bank. “It’s an NRA version of a Western,”
laughs the director. “I was worried about sailing
on the wrong side of poor taste with that one,
but while there’s a lot of serious things in the
ilm, it was about making it exciting [too].”Brothers Toby (Chris
Pine) and Tanner
(Ben Foster).