Last year I had the opportunity to visit the New Orleans set of Jonah Hex, this summer's big-screen take on the DC comic book character. I rode out to the set, located on the marshy outskirts of town, in a large bus filled with other online journalists and two of the film's stars – actors Will Arnett (pictured above) and John Gallagher Jr. Our bus ride was so long that the resulting interview with both gentlemen ran the better part of an hour, so I'm publishing it in two parts here on FEARnet. I'll have the second part of our conversation up in a few days. In the mean time, hit the jump now to read part 1. 

Will, tell us a little bit about your character

Arnett: I play a character named Lt. Grass, and he has been sent by the government from Washington with 2nd Lt Evan to find Jonah Hex and get him to serve our needs, the government's needs, which is to put an end to Quentin Turnbull's antics. We talked about the idea that he represents the future. He's almost like a corporatized version of a military man in those days. He's very orderly and he believes that the future of the world lies in information and intelligence and not in the old rules or the non-rules of the Wild West.

So he represents kind of an end of an era or the beginning of the new era.

Obviously everyone knows you from [Arrested Development].

Arnett: Obviously [Laughs.]

And you've done so much comedic stuff in the past few years. When you first started out you went looking for more dynamic roles and serious stuff like that, and then shifted into comedy based on what came to you. Are you trying to make the shift back? Or are you just trying to say, "I just want to do what I want to do"?

Arnett: I said before a smarter man would have a plan. I have none. So there's nothing, there's nothing that has been well thought out. But this part represented a really great opportunity for me to do something different, that I hadn't done in a long time, and I had a relationship with [director] Jimmy Hayward. Obviously he comes out of animation and he directed Horton Hears a Who! That's how I got to know Jimmy, and he actually came to me and said "I'm working on this movie. I think this would be a great part, something that you could do." So I really fought for it. I mean I wanted to be a part of it and do something different, and I gotta tell you it's super exciting for me to be able to do something like this because I don't get offered parts like this at all. So it's very exciting.

You've got such an eclectic cast in the film, with Malkovich, Josh Brolin and with you playing the role; it's not your standard comic book cast. Is that something that attracted you as well?

Arnett: Well, yeah, of course. I mean, those guys, Josh and Malkovich, or John Malkovich or Sir John Malkovich. [Laughs.] That's how I think of him. They're such great actors, and of course they're also Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning actors. That in and of itself is attractive enough. Plus the fact that they're actually really good. And you have guys like [Michael] Fassbender and John Gallagher, up and coming young actors from New York, it's just really cool to be part of something like this. It is an interesting cast I think. I'm not gonna put myself in that, but everybody else is, so it's very cool to be a part of it, a cast like this.

Were you a fan of the comic?

Arnett: You know I wasn't really that well versed in the comic, to be honest. Since I've become involved with the movie I've kind of looked at some of the stuff. Obviously there is a huge fanbase there for it, but I didn't even know it existed. I don't know a lot of things. I mean, that could take up three bus rides. [Laughs.]

You were describing what your character represents. Do you typically approach roles in that way or it is some sort of practical process of constructing what they look like, what they do?

Arnett: You mean do I approach it from when I'm setting out to do something like this?

Yeah.

Arnett: When I first read the script and I talked to Jimmy a few weeks later, cuz I'm a slow reader. He said, "What do you think?" And I kind of immediately said that I think this is really cool, this part is really cool, and here's how I think of this guy. He represents the future, he's kind of this thoughtful inevitability, he's kind of soulless. He's not a bad guy, but he's a little bit soulless in a sort of corporate way. I think that really resonated with Jimmy, and that was what he was looking for in terms of approach and that's how I've been thinking of that. Having said all that, I'm not going De Niro here.

Do you find there are moments where you want to inject some dry humor into the proceedings?

Arnett: No, not really, not in the making of the movie. I mean, I remember a couple of months ago doing a press conference. I'm always doing press conferences – on buses or trains. But I was doing a press conference with [Arrested Development writer] Mitch Hurwitz. I answered a question seriously and I kind of stopped, and he leaned forward and said "It's hard not to end on a joke, isn't it?" It really is. When it's your kind of bread and butter it becomes just a part of your thing. But I'm very sensitive to this material, this story and there's no part of me that wants to jump it up, as it were.                   

Are you disappointed that you didn't get cool facial hair?

Arnett: A little bit. My beard grows in scraggly so I actually do employ a mustache in this film but through techniques of makeup and wizardry.

Did you do any prep work on how to ride horses or any period stuff?

Arnett: Yeah, John and I had to spend a few days. That was humbling, right John?

Gallagher: Yeah, it was great. The first time I had been on a horse since fourth grade horse camp in Delaware where I grew up. So that was really nice. It was great to get out there. [On] almost any kind of action film or not, any film really [on which] you see a large amount of horses, chances are that they have [experience]. That's what they do, they go everywhere. They were talking that Will's horse, [who] played Flicka in the Flicka movie a few years ago. I think that some of the horses have done more films than I have. Actually I think they all have. Even the stand-in horse. But it was really fun to get out there, although, I don't know if you noticed this, once we got on the set, once I had the wardrobe on they had to help [me] onto the horse. It was the boots.

Arnett: The boots. It was all the special saddle stuff and the swords and everything. Luckily for us, there was no scene where we have to run up to a horse and jump on it. Because it would look like "What is happening?"

What's the one action sequence that you haven't really filmed yet? What's the one you're really looking forward to doing?

Arnett: Well, we're shooting tomorrow night part of this battle that takes place on the river and this fort and where John and I come up the river on a cutter and then they… John Malkovich's character starts launching cannonballs and whatever at us. That's gonna be pretty fun, standing on the front of the boat, yelling. That'll be cool to see how that goes down. I mean, a lot of other kinda fight stuff doesn't really take place with us. That's our big kind of action moment. Of course, our characters are immediately in way over their heads. We kind of launch this attack and they just overwhelm us. That's going to be cool. There are really a lot of great set pieces in this. The first day when we got to ride into this western town that they built here in City Park. What was really cool was, just coming into town, John and I had to lead with all these horses behind us and chickens running around. I think I can speak for John, we'll never enter a movie as coolly as that, on horseback, looking to kick some ass.

Are either of you Civil War buffs or Western buffs?

Gallagher: Not especially. When I was growing up I was definitely just as much, I think, as any young boy at some point, a huge fan of Westerns and adventure films of that era. So that makes it all the more exciting to be cast in one, let alone one that I actually think is going to jostle some people because it's, as I was telling you earlier, it does have all the makes of kind of your traditional kind of cowboy movie, but there's a lot of other elements, like the supernatural element and even just like the subtle kind of political undertones that go through the film. It's going to make it stand out in its genre.

Arnett: And – even though it's a period piece, it of course takes place right after the Civil War – it's going to really resonate. It's kind of a timeless feel to it because of all these issues.

When Josh Brolin signed on he had said that the script was kind of campy and tongue in cheek. Is it still going to be campy?

Arnett: I don't think so. There's been a lot of work that has been done on the script and, like I said before, I don't intend to personally bring any campiness to it. I think that it's important to the fans of Jonah Hex to kind of stay true to that vision, that idea of the original comic and I think that through the series of rewrites it's really done that. Josh is, I know that he is very adamant about making sure that this script is really in that right and true place. I think that they have done a lot of great work in that respect, so, yeah, I don't think that there's going to be any campiness, at this point anyway there's not.

This is Jimmy Hayward's first live-action film. I'm curious if you could talk about his energy and what he's like and what he's looking for.

Gallagher: He's the perfect director for this kind of film because he just has boundless imagery and he's such a fan of film and it really shows, just day-to-day, the way that he is on the set and he is always positive. This is just the one day that we had with him, but what really struck me was that he has this momentum, this energy about getting it done and making it exciting and making it look as fantastic as it should.

Arnett: Yeah, even when we're rehearsing, before we start shooting, that it is really important for a director, to have a very clear vision of how he wants it to be. The tone is so important, and I think that Jimmy has that ability to understand the big picture, understand the overall tone of it and yet at the same time, while maintaining that overall vision, knowing what it takes, knowing what the details are, having an answer for every single question no matter how small. Months ago, Jimmy had a very specific vision for absolutely every gunshot. In a scene where five people get shot they had the stunt guy flipping over backwards, and he's like, "Well, that's not going to work for this guy but it might work for this guy." Having that ability to, going into it, really know exactly what you want [from] every single beat, that's so crucial. I think Jimmy's really got that. Like John says he's got boundless energy and that's going to be important. It's a huge undertaking, there's so many moving parts to any film, but especially something like this. It's action-intensive; and he's also got to stay true to this comic. He's done a great job balancing all this stuff out.

I don't know if they've announced it yet, but is this PG-13 or is this R? I don't know.

Arnett: I don't really know either. I don't think they fucking know. Well, now it's R. [Laughs.]

Do you have a sense of the level of grittiness on the Western Grit scale, between John Ford and Sam Peckinpah? Is there any way to gauge it?

Arnett: You know, I don't know. It's hard to say I think. It's actually going to have its own… It kinda lives in its own world. Same way that the comic kinda lived in its own world, even though you have this kind of really troubled hero who is kind of, not necessarily one-hundred-percent purely good. It's going to be hard to hold it up against other Westerns, and as John said, it has this supernatural aspect to it as well. So, yeah it kind of lives in its own world

On that same note, anyone that was part of the project, did they mention any specific films? I know that a lot of people talked about The Man with No Name trilogy as far as the look.

Arnett: Well, no, not really. I mean, I think it's going to have a down-and-dirty look to it, of course. There's kind of a darkness to a lot of what's happening. The story is very heavy. Here you have a guy, Brolin's character, Jonah Hex, who is a very troubled guy with a very sordid past, very complicated. So I think that the overall esthetic is going to be very... I think it's going to pretty hard-hitting and dark but not inaccessibly dark

Obviously this is a film where they built the environment – you guys are on location and you guys get horseback riding training. But you've done animated work where you're working basically with pure imagination. Now there's so many films that use extensive green screen. Do you prefer it when you have everything real, when you're in an environment, or does it matter to you? Do you just bring different tools to each thing?

Arnett: Yeah, I think that you probably bring different tools. Each medium has it's own. I mean, John has done a lot of theater, especially recently, and he can attest – it's kind of like each one has their own benefits.

Gallagher: Oh, definitely. Films that I've worked on have been pretty moderately budgeted, pretty small independent films. This is really the first legitimate studio picture that I've  done, and  I feel like I'm going to be a little spoiled by it because Jimmy and his team  are very committed to making it all happen right there before your eyes. Which I think with this kind of film is really important. I wouldn't really be able to speak about if there's something that prohibits you about green screen work or anything like that.

Arnett: It does. There are things about when you do an animated film, you're living completely in your own head, especially when you're not working with other actors in the room at all. So now you're also kind of guessing how the other person's going to interpret  the other line and you work on stuff, kind of green-screen stuff where you have to employ a little bit of that same thing, use your imagination. I did this kids' movie for Disney that's coming out this summer. Zach Galifianakis and I had to react to nothing. Which is, again, a very strange thing and you've got to get your mind around that. Coming on something like this where everything is very practical, I think John's right, there is a kind of a luxurious feel living in the real world even though the story is kind of out there. To be actually physically dealing with something. It feels like a luxury at this point.

You guys have been to New Orleans for at least a few days, can you talk a little bit about the advantages of shooting in New Orleans and what do you get to do at night when you are not shooting?

Gallagher: Eat... a lot.

Arnett: Yeah. The food's great.

Gallagher: It's amazing

Arnett: You know, of course, there's a tremendous amount of nightlife here in New Orleans and we've been able to see this great music and stuff. We kind of missed Jazz Fest, probably for the best. It's just a little insane. New Orleans is an important town. I mean, very few other places where you can wake up and walk outside and people are walking around with a 64-ounce cocktail with a strap on it.

Or the Big Ass Beer, as they call it.

Arnett: Yeah, the Big Ass Beer. I mean it's a world unto itself I'm sure.

Have you guys, being actors or in your life, partied here in New Orleans before?

Gallagher: I'd never even been…when we came here a few weeks ago to get started on it. It's been a joy to just be working on the film and it's been a joy to be able to explore the city.

Arnett: I was never here. I don't really take part in the drinking anymore, but I'm lucky that I never came here back then. I may have died here.

You guys are a matching set onscreen to a certain extent; and [to Will] being a superior officer, how does that play off of each other, if he is looking up to Hex and you're out to find Hex and you're straight-laced. What has the rapport been like, building those two characters together?

Arnett: We spend a lot of time together on and off set while we've been here. I'll let John go on this, but I will say that [with] my character there's a little bit of envy there, because he does revere Hex so much, that there's a part of him that really admires him and it's difficult because I feel like my character really recognizes that and there's a mixture of jealousy, and that kinda comes out with me feeling he's being insubordinate.

Gallagher: There is really a unique little triangle between our two characters and Jonah Hex that is actually kinda striking. I think that it is actually something that you don't necessarily expect when you're reading the script to an action blockbuster film. There's this really deep-rooted psychological thing that's happening where I'm having this hero worshiping of Jonah Hex and I kind of wish that Jonah Hex was my superior officer. I'd ride around on a horse all day and take orders from him, and, like you said, Grass is caught in the middle with his own agenda and his own kind of loathing of Jonah Hex and his grief of the way that he kind of gets things done.

Arnett: There's some great scenes with Evan when, at one point he goes to bring Hex back to the Union camp and you really see his admiration for Hex, his desire to kind of know a little bit more about him and learn from him and then at the end of the movie…