Tim Rozon stars in the new action-packed Western Calamity Jane, alongside Emily Brett Rickards and Stephen Amell.
After Wild Bill is killed in a poker game, Calamity Jane must break out of prison and seek revenge. Her quest is hindered by Deadwood’s Sheriff Mason (Tim Rozon), who is out to detain and arrest her.
Tim stopped by to chat with me about it.
Today we’re going to be having a chat about your new movie Calamity Jane. I’m a huge fan of westerns, so I really enjoyed it. What was it that appealed about the script that made you want to join on?
Well, it’s like you said, I’m a fan of westerns, too. I got to play Doc Holliday on Wynonna Earp for four years. So, I’ve got to play the Western before. My wife is a semi professional horse rider, so I do ride horses too. I do love that lifestyle, so to get to actually play in a Western and be a Cowboy; it’s just the dream. You go back to being a little kid again, and you get to show up on a set and to play a cowboy. You just get to play them. That’s the best part of acting for me when you feel like you’re getting paid to play. That’s what this movie was, and the cool thing was Emily’s like me; she rides horses, so we got to do all our own stuff. You know what I mean? We were running around in the mud, and riding horses and getting in fights. It was super fun and awesome.
It looks like you guys are doing a lot your own stunts as well. Do you like to do as much as possible?
I love to do as much as possible. I understand for insurance purposes and all that stuff sometimes you can’t. So, I also am never going to put up a big stink when they won’t use me. I’ll let the other person do it. Don’t forget, the poor stunt person has come in and they really want to do it. But so do I. I’m always like, “Listen, I got no problem doing whatever you want me to do”. It’s super fun. I love doing it now.
Emily was just an absolute revelation in this movie. I couldn’t believe that the same person from Arrow. How did you find working with her?
One of my favorite people all time. She was so prepared, so I’m like that too. I like to be prepared before I show up to movie. I’m not even joking. Her and I knew that entire script back to front. You could have brought up any day to shoot any scene and we had it prepared in some way. We were ready. We were so ready. So, that way on set, we can just play. We can figure out where we wanted to go. She was doing so many interesting things that as an actor, I just kind of watched and reacted to her. But the rest of the cast was equally amazing. Priscilla’s Abigail…
Oh, yeah, she was terrifying.
Oh, my God. I mean, imagine being in scenes with her. The first time I showed up, I saw her and was like, “this movie is gonna be amazing”. I worked with Emily and her and the two performances they were giving that you saw, I saw my first day. I said, “this movie is gonna be amazing”. Then you have Terry Miles directing it all and it was just like Heaven.
How did you find working with Terry Miles? Were you encouraged to improvise or stick to the script?
I stick to the script (laughs). That’s just how I am. I feel like I’ve been hired to do a job and try and interpret someone else’s hard work and writing and their vision of how it’s supposed to be. There are liberties you can take as an actor to kind of go and stuff. I don’t go too much into it. But Terry, he let every actor do their own process. Obviously, Priscilla’s Abigail, she was definitely trying stuff and that’s the kind of character you need to have the space to do that. We were figuring stuff out with Mason too, though, which was cool. There was a scene that we did out in the woods with Calamity and Mason and Mason is a little more vulnerable when he tells her about his past and stuff. I strictly remember after we did that scene, Terry came over and he goes, “That’s not how I saw that scene going. I thought it would go a little quicker” and I said, “Okay, I’ll do it again” and he said, “No, no, no, no, no, that’s the way it was supposed to be”. So, it’s really good man. He’s just great. Now I’m a super fan. I mean, I’ve read his books since we’ve worked together, so he’s amazing, man.
The film has an amazing visual style as well; it grabbed me with just the opening shot of the snow coming down on the mountains. Where was that part filmed?
We were in northern BC Canada, near North Dakota in the Badlands we were kind of on the edge there. The DOP his name was Jan Klompje . Amazing guy. Young guy. It was a fun crew too, like they were all in it to win it you, know? It was fun. We were in the Badlands where Cowboys would have been, so that was super cool.
I’ve always wanted to go there actually; I’m in Toronto now. I’ve never been to that side of Canada. So, definitely got to visit there at some point as that just looks gorgeous.
You should! I would recommend going from Calgary all the way to BC, just go through Banff in the mountains, and it’s like nowhere else in the world.
Yeah, I think I’d never come back. How did you prepare for this role? And is your process different for each movie?
Yeah, 100%. First things first – I just try and get the lines down. I learn all the lines and learn all the dialogue; I will just have to have the dialogue in there. Westerns, I’m a little more comfortable with. It’s kind of my niche. I just really love to do it. I also have that excitement. I’m really excited to get to set and start doing it. A lot of credit needs to be given to hair and makeup and costumes, though, especially in a movie like a Western, because I was really dirty. We used actual dirt, which was amazing. I loved it. My outfit was filthy. We were just putting minimal makeup, just kind of dirt and sunspots and dirt under the fingernails. You need that when you’re trying to make an authentic Western; it really helps. So, a lot of credit needs to be given to hair and makeup and costumes when creating a character. It’s not just me who creates that; there’s a lot of people’s hard work around it to make it happen and this movie had a great, great group of people.
Yeah, one of my favorite details is something you rarely see was the teeth; like Abigail had dirty teeth rather than perfect white teeth. It just feels authentic and that’s what it would have been like. I just love that little attention to detail.
Yeah, and you should know Priscilla wanted them even dirtier. That’s why I love Priscilla; her Abigail was fantastic. Emily too, we were just dirty. It was great. When we were filthy in the mud. Like if we got mud on our costumes, there wasn’t someone coming over washing it off, like on another movie. You know what I mean? That’s it. We lived in that dirt then. But it was great. That’s the way it should be.
Generally, what do you look for in scripts to be interested in a project?
It’s just the story. There’s got to be an element of vulnerability to the character. That’s what I liked the most. I like anti heroes more than I like heroes. But it depends; I’ve done all genres of movies. I really like sci-fi stuff, or Westerns or just anytime you’re playing and wearing a costume, or you have a laser blaster or superpowers or something, It’s more fun. I’m lucky because I get to do a lot of that stuff. But I’ve also done the Hallmark Christmas stuff and it just depends on the story. I’ve read lots of scripts, where it just resonates with me, and some don’t.
Many people have said the Western is dead, and yet, they keep coming out and people love them. I watch them all the time. What do you think the enduring appeal is of the genre to audiences?
Well, I think it’s just the vulnerability of it; it’s like the medieval stuff. It’s just like, the risks seem so high. I mean, the elements can literally kill you at any time. You’re trying to survive. Man’s just out there fighting the elements and fighting themselves and trying to survive. Pre technology stuff is cooler. I either like the futuristic stuff, where they’re super tech, and we’re in Star Trek type worlds, or like pre tech stuff. Now it’s like, if there’s a problem well, you could solve it with a cell phone.
Just jump on Google.
Yeah, you can’t do that in the Old West. I think it’s just about the raw nature of man and people and emotions and how they deal with stuff. I also grew up watching The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and movies like Tombstone. Just with super cool performances, and there’s something cool with the swagger of a cowboy. You got a big iron on your hip. You walk in, you’re smoking a cigar and it’s pretty cool.
What would you like audiences to take away from the film?
They can take away whatever they want. It’s gonna be different for everybody. I hope that everybody sees that Calamity Jane is actually the hero. I hope a lot of little girls watch the movie and say, “oh shit, I can be a cowboy too”. You know what I mean? So, yeah, it’s got a lot to take away. I hope everybody just has fun. As much fun watching it as we had making it. That’s my biggest take away.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me today and all the best with the movie.
Thanks very much.