A couple of weeks back we ran the first half of the conversation that we, and a group of our fellow journalists, had with Jonah Hex stars Will Arnett (pictured above) and John Gallagher Jr. when we visited the film's set in New Orleans last year. Hit the jump now to read the second half.

Because Hex isn't one of the best known comic-book characters, do you guys have any sense of whether you're granted more freedom or autonomy here then would have been bestowed upon, say, Spider-Man or Batman filmmakers?

ARNETT:  Probably.  I mean, I think that there is a fan base, a core fan base that's very hardcore about it.  And I'm sure they're sitting two people away from me.  [Laughter]  And so, I guess there's probably the danger of not worrying about it, because it seems to be not as well known a character.  However, I think that, it does seem like the filmmakers are very intent on trying to stay true to the character.  Not because they don't want to alienate the fanboys, no offense, but because they want to really adhere to the story.  But yeah, there probably is more leeway.  If you look back, I mean, Jonah Hex was in a bunch of different incarnations, right?  There was the original, that was part of a different series of comics.  Then he had his own comic as a spinoff, and then another series after that with different writers and different illustrators, so I think that he's kind of evolved as well.  He's also made appearances in the Batman cartoon as well at a certain point.  So even the actual comic itself kind of took liberties on the character itself.  You hope that if there are people out there who feel that there's liberties taken [they] can kind of understand that it's artistic license and not a desire to say 'screw it' to the character.

For those of us a little unfamiliar with the script, can you talk a little bit about how it starts and the storyline and how much of an origin story it is?

ARNETT: [pause] John?  [Laughter]

GALLAGHER: It begins on a cold, dusty night...

ARNETT: That's true.  It does.

GALLAGHER: So much of the script was a big surprise.  Because you start it and you think, "Okay, I know what this is going to be – this kind of wild Western, Sam Peckinpah thing.  But you know, every page it takes some kind of unique turn.  And so it doesn't follow your typical start-to-finish arc of this type of movie that's based on a comic book action-adventure. I can't really [say] how it begins and ends

ARNETT: You want me to?

GALLAGHER: Yeah.

ARNETT: It starts with this guy, who's kind of this renegade outlaw living in this kind of lawless West, and you decipher very early on that he's a badass.  And that there's some kind of pathos there.  There's something happening, and then as the story moves, you understand he has this complicated relationship with the character Quentin Turnbull, played by John Malkovich, who is ultimately the villain in the story.  But everybody's kind of a good guy and everybody is a villain.  But everybody makes a case for why they're doing what they're doing.  And I think the only person who is not that sympathetic is probably Turnbull.  He is kind of like pure evil.  He represents a guy has nothing to lose because he's lost it all.  Which is a very difficult thing to combat against.  I think that Jonah understands that.  I think that you could draw parallels to terrorism and terrorists.  People who are willing to do anything are very dangerous adversaries.  So Jonah is kind of fighting that and he's kind of fighting the system and what that represents, and he's fighting his past; so here you have a guy who reluctantly decides to confront his demons, something that he's clearly been running away from for a long time.  It culminates with this crazy, huge battle.  I don't want to give too much away.

We've been on a very long bus ride while talking to the two of you, and we heard before we got here, about the bugs, that there could be crocodiles. [Laughter]  The email invite we got was pretty interesting.  So how did they prepare you?  Did they say to you that there are a lot of bugs and poison ivy?  What did they say to you guys?

GALLAGHER:  They don't care about us.  [Laughter]

ARNETT:  This is the first I'm hearing of it. 

GALLAGHER:  Yeah, I haven't heard a word. 

ARNETT:  I'm not getting off the bus.  [Laughter]  I'm actually allergic to alligators. 

I know you're the first person they would call about this, but have you heard anything about Grindhouse since you did the stuff for Don't?

ARNETT:  First of all, you're absolutely right.  I'd be the first person they'd call.  [Laughter]  No, I didn't know anything about that. 

The movie's on DVD and Blu-ray and those trailers are nowhere to be found. 

ARNETT:  Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah. 

ARNETT:  You know, I'm embarrassed to say I never saw it.  I never saw the final thing.  I would like to.  So if they bring it back I'd like to know. 

If it's on cable, they show it as Grindhouse, but not on DVD.

ARNETT:  You'd think that Edgar Wright would have sent it to me, right?  You'd think he would have done me a solid.

We'll pass it along.

ARNETT:  Help a bro out.  Are you guys going up there?  To Scotland?  Give him a message for me:  "Thanks!"  [Laughter]  And to Mike Cera, "What's up?"

With you both playing Union soldiers, is there any conflict with Jonah Hex having fought for the Confederacy?

ARNETT:  Nothing that's kind of apparent in the script.

GALLAGHER:  Yeah, you kind of get the sense that he has his principles, Jonah Hex, while also kind of having this lack of morality.  You get the sense that there's no real, true side that he's on.  You kind of get the sense that, because he just kind of ended up fighting for the Confederacy, that he could have ended up fighting on any front, really. 

ARNETT:  Yeah, it doesn't really seem like he's got any kind of allegiance to the Confederacy based on political views or anything.

In the comic book, originally, he actually surrendered to the Union troops.

ARNETT:  Well, they do refer to that.  That he becomes disillusioned with the Confederacy.  I think that has more to do with what Turnbull was doing than the politics of the Confederacy.  I'm not really sure.  But there is reference to that, because that's kind of the kernel of the problem between Turnbull and Hex.  When Hex turns himself in, he refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the platoon or whatever.  From the color of the mud on his boots, the red mud or clay – it only exists in one valley – the Union kind of deciphers from that that's where they must be.  So Turnbull holds Hex responsible for the death of his son, Jed Turnbull, who is also Hex's best friend.  It's very complicated. 

It's the middle of May right now.  How long are you guys here in town shooting for?  How long is the production towards its end?

ARNETT:  End of June, mid-July.  We're kind of in and out from now until then.

It's a really temperate time of year to be outside in New Orleans.

ARNETT:  Well, look, if you're going to be outside in New Orleans, you might as well be wearing two layers of wool.  [Laughter]  Boots, a hat...and you might as well be on a horse.  It's going to get soupy.  Things get pretty mealy in your costume, that's for sure.

Are you guys planning on leaving town and coming back?  How does that work?

ARNETT: Yes.

GALLAGHER:  I'm not even sure how long this stretch is for me.  I don't know when I'm going back...

One thing I've noticed is, we've been on a very dark road for ten, fifteen minutes...

ARNETT:  We're not taking you anywhere to kill you.

You wanted to know about murder earlier.

ARNETT:  [Laughter]  No, I just want to know statutes...look, let's relax.  Everybody be cool.  [In a spooky voice]  Are we close?

What's been the most difficult part of the movie?  Physically or otherwise.

ARNETT:  Probably getting to know the horses and the humility involved in that.  John and I went up for a few days and we were riding horses, and we started slowly.  And one day we got there and Josh's stunt guy and a couple of other stunt guys were there and they were riding around a big open field, pretty expertly.  Full gallops and kind of laughing and circling around and stuff.  We found out that they'd only been riding a couple hours.  We had been riding for a couple of days and we were gingerly at a trot.  So they're going to look like they're on Harleys and we're going to look like we're on Vespas. 

Was there any special weapons training?

ARNETT:  No, we really don't draw any weapons.

GALLAGHER:  We don't draw any weapons. 

ARNETT:  We rely on the power of our gaze.  And our looks.

Harsh language?

ARNETT:  Harsh language, yeah.  We rely on some fairly medium loud staccato

So would you be willing to do another comic book movie after this one?  I mean, you talked about Green Lantern coming out.

ARNETT:  Yeah.

And if they keep scraping the bottom of the barrel, maybe Plastic Man, so...

ARNETT:  Wow.  Yeah. 

You'd be a good Plastic Man.  That's what he was trying to say. 

ARNETT:  You're trying to say that I'd be good at the bottom of a barrel.  [Laughter]  Is there a comic book character known as "Bottom Feeder"?

Probably.

ARNETT:  Probably.  But that's probably X-rated.  He just feeds off bottoms. 

I think we just came up with a new porn comic book. 

ARNETT:  Great.  Let's do it. 

Last question.  Are you guys signed for multiple Jonah Hex movies?

ARNETT:  Uh, no.

GALLAGHER:  No.

ARNETT:  No, we're not. 

That's actually unusual in comic book deals.  They usually would, automatically.

ARNETT:  Right.  If this were Marvel, we'd have, like, nine pictures.

Unless you're Terrence Howard.

ARNETT:  Aw.

Too soon?