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ALAN TUDYK on '3:10 TO YUMA'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
August 13, 2007
While promoting his comedy Death at a Funeral, actor Alan Tudyk took some time to discuss 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line, Cop Land). In this interview segment, he talks about working on the modernized version of the western classic, learning to ride a horse, and getting a CSI role out of it.
Alan plays Doc Potter (pictured above, far left), a veterinarian who joins Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and a group of hired guns to deliver captured criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the proper authorities.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: You had an intense guest role on TV's CSI. How did you get involved with that project?
ALAN: That role happened because of 3:10 to Yuma. I was under contract with CBS, and I had done a pilot with Carol Mendelsohn, who runs that show, CSI. And they owned me, and anything I did, they had to give me a greenlight or not. And when 3:10 to Yuma came up, I just got back from doing Death at a Funeral, and my people called and said, "Is it okay if Alan goes to New Mexico and shoots a western?" And Carol said yes, and she made it happen. Everybody that needed to get me the greenlight, she made sure I got the greenlight, because she wanted me to be able to go and do that movie. And then she sent me a script the next day. [laughs] She said, "I'd love for you to play this role." And it's like, "You got it! Whatever you want!"
Did you ever watch the original 3:10 to Yuma?
I did. But only once I got the job, then I watched it. So I had missed that one.
How would you say the new 3:10 compares to the original? And how did it feel to remake a classic western like that?
It was great. It's very different. They modernized it, you know? The original 3:10 is so slow-paced, because movies were slow-paced back then anyway. They say things over and over again. [deep voice with western drawl] "If I had more money, then I wouldn't have to be doing this." [high voice with western drawl] "Yes, but we're so poor." [deep voice with western drawl] "I know, because I've got no money!" All right, we got it! Let's go, let's move on! And there's a lot more action in this movie, in the new 3:10. And for me, it was just fun to do a western. I come from Texas originally. That was just a joy to work with such great people. Not just Jim Mangold, but all the actors, of course. I mean, they're phenomenal.
Did you do your own horse-riding?
[laughs] Yes, I did. There's one point where I had to ride and slump over, and I had rehearsed it with the wranglers. We went out riding, my riding classes and stuff. And I had to be good at riding, because I come from Texas--I know all my relatives are going to be watching, and they're real cowboys. Not my immediate family. I grew up in the suburbs near Dallas. But all of my relatives are in San Antonio, and half of them are farmers and half of them are cattle people and oil people and tough, tough people. And so I had to really be good at it, and I was like, "Look, I've got to do this one stunt where I go over front while I'm in a full gallop"...And I eased in and almost flipped over the horse. [says in instructor's tone] "All right, hold up! Let's not do that again. We're going to come back to this. We're going to get your riding a little stronger before we go into any tricky things like that." Never touched it again until the day. They're like, "Alan, it's time for the scene! We gotta go, we gotta go, the light's going, we gotta go, we gotta go!" So [I prayed] and just did it and luckily did not fall off of the horse.
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