Heather Graham talks about the horror western film “Place of Bones”

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Place of Bones star Heather Graham about the unique horror western. Without giving too much away, Graham talked about the film’s big twist, working with director Audrey Cummings, and much more. The film is distributed by The Avenue and is available in theaters and digitally today.

“On a remote ranch, a mother (Heather Graham) and her daughter fight for survival when a wounded outlaw seeking refuge brings a notorious bank robber and his ruthless gang, desperate to recover a stolen fortune, right to their doorstep in this action-packed horror western,” the synopsis reads.

Tyler Treese: Heather, congratulations on Place of Bones. I really enjoyed the movie and I’m looking forward to seeing it again because there’s this great twist later on. I don’t want to give too much away, but it puts everything in a new context. What was your reaction when you read the script and found out that there’s this big, shocking twist at the end that changes the whole movie?

Heather Graham: I love the twist. I thought that with the script, you just didn’t know what was going to happen. We had a screening last night and some of my friends came up and said, “You know, I had no idea where this movie was going. I had no idea what was going to happen and how it was going to end.” Everyone was really surprised and I think that’s cool because it’s fun to tell a fresh story.

Your daughter in the film, Brielle Robillard, is fantastic. What is it like building a mother-daughter relationship with her?

I think the main part of my character is that I love her so much and I want to protect her. She’s cool, she’s young, she’s up-and-coming, and she’s just done a great job. She’s really real. I love how our characters are both really resourceful, smart, tough, and badass.

It’s also very refreshing to see a female-led, female-directed western in Place of Bones. This genre has such a rich history of film and you don’t see something like that very often. So what was it like being in it? There are these standoffs and I feel like a shootout like that is just on every actor’s bucket list.

Yeah, I mean, I can’t think of a western right now that has a female protagonist, so it’s really cool to get to do something like that. Of course, it’s really fun to have a gunfight too. I had a great time. I got to do one of my own stunts and fall over, and it’s fun to get into a gunfight and try to kill the bad guys.

I wanted to ask you what it’s like working with Audrey Cummings. She looks like she has a bright future ahead of her. What really struck me about her work was that she had a lot of fresh ideas for this film.

I really like her. She’s a great person. She’s just badass. I mean, she’s out there in this crazy, bad weather and she’s done some cool genre films before. It’s cool because she’s a woman and she has a certain feminine sensibility, but she also loves genre films. So she’s a great mix of both male and female storytelling. And we had a great cinematographer, this Andrzej Sekuła who did Pulp Fiction. He had a great way of making the tension just exciting.

I really enjoyed Tom Hopper in this film. I had just seen him in a romantic comedy, so it was a big change for me to see him as such an intense criminal. What struck me about him as a scene partner? They have a really intense scene later on.

Well, I think it’s cool because he’s so good-looking like a movie star and you expect him to be the good guy, but in this movie he’s actually such a villain. He’s such a dark, evil guy. I think it’s a cool turn for him as an actor and he’s scary.

The very first DVD I ever bought was Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and I still have a soft spot for that film. It’s the 25th anniversary, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on that legacy. It’s still very well preserved.

Oh, that’s so great. That’s amazing. I’m just grateful to be a part of that. I mean, Mike Myers is amazing. I met this father and his daughter the other day and they were like, “We bonded growing up and watching Austin Powers together.” It’s just great that people liked it and that they still watch it. It’s so cool.

Thanks to Heather Graham for taking the time to talk about Place of Bones.